


Hidden Wings

by Silvamoon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dorks in Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Keith has fae wings, Klance Pinefest 2018, M/M, Magic, Minor Injuries, Mutual Pining, NotForRaisin, Pining, Strangers to Lovers, Wingfic, Wingfic (sorta)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 00:38:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18712945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvamoon/pseuds/Silvamoon
Summary: The Druidic War may have ended, but the aftereffects were still ongoing. Keith, a Fae, who never had an opportunity to join in the fighting, learns that the battles may not be as finished as everyone assumes. All when he and a local herbalist stumble across signs of activity. Signs that can only have been caused by Druid magic. He decides to work together with this stranger and his friends in order to try and uncover the source. All while trying to keep his heritage hidden, and finding that their relationship gradually grows from strangers, to friends, to something more?





	Hidden Wings

**Author's Note:**

> This is my submission for Klance Pinefest 2018. I'll admit this was the first time I ever participated in this type of event and it was an experience. I never thought I would write a 15k fic, let alone one that ended up being over 20k. There's still a lot of rough spots and things that I would've liked to flesh out more, but overall I'm happy with how it turned out. I hope everyone enjoys reading :D  
> Many thanks to [adverbalstarlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/adverbalstarlight) for betaing!

The Druidic War seemed like it would never end. By the time Keith was old enough to know about it, it had already seemed like something that had been around forever and would just always be there. Every day he would hear new tales; battles won and lost, areas that were saved or destroyed, and as he grew older, he became more determined to do something about it. While most would say they wanted the glory or the fame, that never crossed his mind. No, he only wanted to protect the people that couldn’t defend themselves. That was the role he wanted to play, but he never got the chance.

Instead of fighting, his family decided to prioritize safety over everything else and stayed away from the battles. Many others in his village had done the same, but he couldn’t understand why. Why should they stay in hiding while others were out fighting for their lives and actually making a difference? Why wait until everything was safe? It didn’t make sense to him at all, but he didn’t have a choice otherwise, not until the war was all over.

By then, only the aftereffects of the battles could be seen, in the form of the villages that needed to be rebuilt and the scorched patches of land that needed time to heal. Only now had the strict rules been lifted and he was allowed to leave the confines of his home. Even then, he was limited. There was nothing close enough for him to help with, any affected regions were located further to the south. So he was left to patrol the borders, to walk around and hope to find something.

Today looked like it was one of those nothing days, the same as all the others. He had already reached the line of finely trimmed hedges that signaled the end of his route. The dirt trail wound its way further towards the horizon, and he was often tempted to keep following it and see where it went. Would the path lead him to one of the villages? Did they need help rebuilding? The only thing that held him back was knowing that it wouldn’t be long before Shiro--or worse, Mom, noticed his absence and dragged him back home. They had never threatened him, but he knew they would worry, and as thick-headed as he could be, he would never do that to his family. Sometimes though...he wondered how far he could get.

He caught himself staring off and shook his head at the thought. No. The patrol was boring, but still important. After all, there was still a chance that a rogue group of Galra would come this way, determined for a fight or to cause trouble. It was why he always kept a hand ready near his dagger, but even that precaution wasn’t usually needed. So far, the most he used it was during his daily training sessions, and one time to chase off some curious critters had come a little too close. The local wildlife had smartened up since then and seemed to be staying away so he didn’t have that to break up the monotony. He let out a resigned sigh and started to turn back home, just as a grey flash streaked across the path and disappeared.

Whatever it was, the only likely hiding spot was through a spot in the hedges. Should he follow it? There really wasn’t a good reason to investigate. It was probably nothing more than a stupid squirrel that hadn’t got the message to stay away. But he still found himself proceeding towards the hedges with his weapon drawn. They were huge, thick things that he had to wedge himself between, bits of leaves and branches jabbed themselves into his hair and clothes. If he had thought about it first, he could have just climbed over the darn things, but he had a habit of making things difficult for himself. It took a good five minutes of shoving and grumbling before he lumbered into the other side, and then another minute more of muttered curses to remove the nature tagalongs. Only then did he take the time to glance over the surroundings, and noticed...oh, this was odd...a human.

He had never been to this area before, but even he knew that no one usually came this far, it was too out of the way for any travelers from the nearest village. So it was suspicious to find anyone here and he needed to find out what was going on. Keith approached with caution, but the human didn’t notice at all, completely engrossed in picking through another set of bushes. Occasionally he snapped off a leaf or bud and shoved it into a leather pouch clipped to his belt. Other times he stopped and stretched, bending his noticeably tall body in an arc, long tan arms raised over his head. Keith had no idea what the hell he was doing. Maybe finding food, or gathering supplies? Either way, he was a stranger and Keith wasn’t going to take any chances. He renewed his approach, so intent on questioning the man that he didn’t even see the gray blur appear again, not till it shot directly in front of his feet and he tripped over himself like an idiot. The fall was unavoidable and not one of his prouder moments. He cursed before he landed in a sprawled out position on the ground. Some dirt got in his mouth which he spat out, and his dagger had been flung somewhere, but worst of all...was the cat. It was a sleek bluish-gray creature, holding itself in that distinct haughty feline pose, and it was giving him the most judgmental, indignant gaze he had ever seen. That was what he had tripped over, a cat!?

The cat gave a sharp ‘meow’ to scold him and tilted its head up, ears perked forward. Curious to see what had caught its interest, Keith followed its gaze and froze. Behind him, the black tips of his wings quivered into view, with more color slowly spreading downwards like ink spilled across an invisible canvas. They flickered into full view for the briefest of moments, large black butterfly wings, before he managed to refocus his magic to make them disappear from view. The cat hissed at the display and bolted back towards where its supposed owner had to be. _Oh shit…_

Keith gritted his teeth and looked up to see the man staring at him. _Fuck._

“Woah,” the man exclaimed, but instead of focusing on Keith, he had turned his full attention to the cat, who coiled itself to between his legs and purred happily when he bent down to stroke it between the ears. “Aww, hey Blue, did the bad man scare you?”

Just what the ever living hell was going on? Keith could only gape while the man continued to lavish the cat--what idiot names their pet after a color anyway?--with attention and only when he seemed satisfied did he stand up to address Keith.

“Oh, speaking of, are you alright?” The cat lover stood over him now, a hand extended out in a silent offering to help.

“I’m fine,” Keith snapped, but accepted the assistance with a begrudging mutter as he pulled himself up. Nevermind the rising embarrassment that he felt, he forced it down with a glare.

“Geez. Just asking.” The man put a hand on his hip, looking a bit offended, but Keith didn’t care about that. All he had wanted to do was find out what was going on, and ask questions, and where the hell was his knife? While Keith searched to retrieve the blade, he could feel the man watching him. There wasn’t another word spoken. The man just stood there, him and that darn cat, as they watched with identical looks of amused interest. It started to get annoying.

“Soo. What are you doing here?” the man asked.

“Me? I should be asking you that!” Keith looked at him in disbelief. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go, he had just been trying to do his job, and he still didn’t know if this guy was a threat or not. He needed to salvage the situation somehow. “What business do you have here?”

“I’m picking herbs, duh.” He pulled a fresh bundle of leaves out of the pouch and waved them in Keith’s face.

Keith closed his eyes for a moment, silently chanting ‘ _Patience yields focus_ ’ and took a breath. “I can see that… I mean why haven’t I seen you, or your cat around before?”

“Well I’ve never seen you before either, and I’ve been here loads of times. Haven’t I, Blue?” he quipped, bending to pet the cat again. “She said yes.”

This couldn’t be real, was it normal for humans to knowingly provoke someone, or were they just oblivious? If there was any blessing to all this, he at least seemed harmless, but not to mention defenseless. “It’s dangerous here, you should leave,” he tried.

“Seems fine to me. Plus my usual spot kind of got scorched by the Galra. So here I am.”

All Keith’s annoyance vanished right there. So the Galra really were still around, and possibly closer than expected. Then the thought struck him. “What if they end up coming here next? You might be able to hop around, but this is _my_ home. Leave,” he ordered.

“It’s fine.” The guy waved off the command. “Geez, you’re such a grump about all this, aren’t Fae supposed to be happy?”

“What--” Keith almost choked at his words, confusion and anger bubbling up in him. He had been being played for a fool this whole time? He knew!?

“Your ears.” The man tapped at his own rounded ones to demonstrate. “They’re all pointy, so Fae.”

“I’m not,” Keith bit back, and blurted out the first logical race that came to mind, “I’m an Elf.”

“Fae, Elf, same thing.” He shrugged and nonchalantly resumed picking at leaves.

The causal indifference left Keith reeling, he couldn’t recall feeling so thrown off in his life. Usually, he had no problem snapping out a retort, but right now, he had no idea what to say. There were so many problems with that careless statement; Elves were kind and lovable, while Fae tended to be...not as popular. Right? But mainly he felt the whiplash of not knowing if this was all an act or not.

“Hey,” the singsong voice broke through his thoughts, “While you’re here, how about you be a sport and help me find some anise?”

“Why should I?” He crossed his arms. Now they were back to something he could bitterly deal with.

“Because the sooner I get it, the sooner I can leave.”

That was what Keith wanted after all, get away from this strangeness, so he agreed, “Alright, what does it look like?”

“Uh it’s this white and green sprouty thing. You’ll know it when you see it.”

Keith highly doubted that, but made an effort of trying to spot anything that came remotely close to matching the vague description. Honestly, plant identification had never been something he paid much attention to; other than knowing what could poison you, all the others seemed like useless knowledge. Still, he searched and picked up random plants to hold out for inspection.

“Nope that’s not it. That one’s a daisy. Man you suck at this.” The guy sounded more and more amused with each failure.

“Do it yourself then.”

“The name’s Lance, by the way.”

“What?” Keith paused in the search.

“Figure it’s a good idea to trade names. So I don’t have to say ‘Hey! Mr. Grumpy Fae!’”

“Don’t call me that.” Keith pouted in response.

“Then…?” Lance asked hopefully.

“It’s Keith.”

“Great!”

After that, Lance turned into a talker, or even more of one. He shared information about everything: His family, where he lived, his job and the struggle to keep up with an ever increasing number of patients. Keith didn’t even have to say much in response, he just listened and occasionally got coaxed into sharing a little about his own family. It actually wasn’t bad, especially considering how it started off, and it confirmed that Lance didn’t know about Keith’s heritage; no other mention of the Fae at all. Sometimes Keith tried to ask a bit more about the Galra, but it never seemed like a good time. Maybe he could make up some sort of excuse before it was time to head back, but Lance managed to find a batch of the elusive plant at that moment.

“Okay! Thanks for the help, Keithy, but I have to go grind these up and give them out. See you tomorrow!” He waved and started packing up his things.

Wait, tomorrow? Keith opened his mouth to protest, but Lance had already moved out of hearing range, a silhouette on the horizon trailed by his cat. So he was coming back and just expected Keith to show up? Strange, it was a really odd way to end the day. He mused that at least it had been been interesting, hell he might even agree to the offer. There were still things he wanted to know, both about that herbalist, Lance, and whatever he knew about the Galra.

Keith reached the starting point of his route and made certain that no one else was around before he let the illusion drop from his wings. Hiding them didn’t cause any sort of harm, but he tended to forget to relax when he couldn’t see them; it was a bad habit that he had tried breaking multiple times, but never had any success. He rolled his shoulders to work out the stiffness and gave an experimental flutter. The black wings shifted idly in the breeze and sent a ripple through the patterned white dots. Then he flapped and was airborne.

This was his favorite part of the day. He quickly built up speed and zoomed between the trees as fast as he could go. It was a game to see how close he could get to the thick branches, letting the leaves brush against him before he ducked into a thick clump. The foliage shimmered as he passed through the invisible barrier, where--hidden to all non-Fae--was home.

* * *

 

If he happened to finish the patrol route a little quicker than usual, he wouldn’t admit it. Yesterday had been useless. The whole conversation with Lance had led to him trying to ask Shiro about the war, again, but he just got that usual dazed look in his eyes and said, ‘Not now, later.’ Well, later never came and Keith was getting tired of it. He was tired of not knowing what had happened in the war. Shiro had been one of the few Fae Fighters, back before the decision to hide had been enacted, and one of the few who could provide answers, but Keith was _always_ left out of the loop; like he was still a child. Except he wasn’t, and while Lance might be odd, he was the best source available at the moment.

When Keith arrived at the meeting spot, there was no sign of anyone else yet. Guess he really had been too quick. He decided to pass the time by practicing with his knife, flipping it into the air, catching it and then performing a series of quick slashes at an invisible enemy.

“Looking sharp, Gracie.”

Keith spun around, nearly flinging the knife at the voice, but recognized it just in time and halted the attack. “...What did you call me?”

“Gracie, you know because of that entrance you made yesterday. That was smooth.” Lance, because of course it was Lance, looked completely unphased by the fact that he had almost been skewered. He stood there giving Keith an oblivious smile. Oh, so he was just dumb… God…

“I gave you my name to avoid stupid nicknames,” Keith grumbled.

“Well I think it’s clever. Lighten up a bit, or I can go back to calling you Mr. Grumpy Fae?” He gave such a shit-eating grin that Keith resolved right then that two could play this game.

“Fine. Sprout.”

The way Lance’s face fell into stunned horror was priceless. “You can’t call me that.”

“Then you can’t call me Gracie.” Keith hummed and leveled a challenging gaze at him. He could see the way Lance returned the look, just as determined, and probably considering if keeping the dumb name was worth getting one of his own.

“Don’t think this is over, Keith,” he basically spat out.

“I won’t.” Keith smirked at the small victory.

Up till now, Blue had watched the small exchange in silence, but now she decided to make herself known with an annoyed ‘meow’, her tail swished back and forth in agitation at being ignored. Of course, Lance had to immediately fix that and bent down to fuss over her. Keith just rolled his eyes.

“You spoil that cat too much.”

“Don’t listen to him, you’re my precious little angel,” he cooed.

“I didn’t come to watch you fuss over your cat all day.”

“Oh! That’s right.” Lance gave Blue a final pat and straightened up. “Today you’re getting training.”

“You, train me?” he scoffed, “Don’t need it.”

“After that sorry display yesterday, you obviously need serious help with your plant identification.” Lance snapped his fingers at a realization. “You can be my assistant.”

Oh, that sort of training, no thanks. Plus there had to be a catch. “What do you get out of it?”

“Huh? Well I guess it’d make my job go faster, and, no offense, Blue, but it’s just nice having someone to talk to,” he sounded genuinely confused at the notion of ulterior motives.

It was...a more direct response than Keith expected, and definitely more honest than his own intentions. So maybe it was with a bit of guilt that he agreed, “...Just don’t expect me to remember half of them.”

“You won’t regret it! You’ll have so much fun that you’ll be dreaming plants, and it’s useful too!” Lance gave such an excited, bright, smile that it dazzled him for a moment, and before he could process what was happening, he was pulled over to the hedges to start the first lesson.

Lance started with ‘simple’ herbs, picking out lavender, yarrow, and anise--which Keith did remember. He also explained some of the basic uses; good for sleeping, stemming bleeding, and easing coughs, respectfully. The smells were what Keith found the most interesting, and he confiscated a small branch of lavender for himself. The anise also had a nice scent, sort of on the sweet side, it tempted him into tasting a small portion when Lance looked away. It was horrible and he quickly spat out the bitter thing. Ugh, people actually ate that? The flavor stuck to his tongue, but Lance hadn’t noticed the incident at all, he continued to chat throughout the lesson. It sounded like his workload kept increasing, with more patients showing up everyday, which was a bit odd; it had Lance and other herbalists at a loss.

They continued to wander and talk, sometimes Keith offered a suggestion or question. He actually found the subject a bit interesting, and the fact that they ended up turning it into a ‘who can find the herb first’ competition didn’t hurt either. He was determined to find the next elusive plant, and almost missed how the lush surroundings gradually turned duller. They slowed down as it became more apparent that the plants looked a bit less green. An uncomfortable silence wormed its way into their conversation until they stopped talking completely. Keith glanced around warily, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck rise. There was just something about it that set him on edge. That feeling only grew as the path continued its stretch forward into a large wilted area. The plants, the trees, the flowers, everything was dead or dying. Not even the sign of a single animal could be located, well except Blue, who creeped close to the edge. She arched her back and hissed, fur bristling, and bolted back to safety.

“Oh, no, no…” Lance stumbled up alongside of where Keith had stopped and fell into a crouched position to reach out towards a plant. Even with that gentle touch, the brittle stem crumbled.

“I never saw anything like this before,” Keith commented, not failing to notice how crestfallen Lance looked.

Lance barely suppressed a shudder. “Well I have.”

“What do you mean?”

“Remember when I said I had to change spots?” He paused.  “This is exactly how it looked when the Galra scorched it.”

* * *

They had sat in silent contemplation before going their respective ways, both at a loss for words. Lance either couldn’t or wouldn’t provide any explanation. Frustrated but more determined than ever to find out what was going on, Keith knew there was only one person aside from Shiro that might help, and that was mom. 

She wasn’t hard to find. All it took was a short flight to the highest point in the village, where her office was securely nestled in the branches of a thick tree. The sole entranceway could barely be seen through the leaves that drooped over it. Keith ducked past them and walked through. Normally, he’d first see the wall with its various maps and charts--an almost confusing conspiracy board of designs to organize the village’s defenses--but today it was blocked by mom. Her monarch wings stretched out across half the room, forming a dizzying purple and black canvas. This was her typical ‘thought pose,’ in which she barely moved at all aside from an occasional wing twitch. He saw that twitch again, the only indication that she was aware of his presence. Even though he had learned how to keep his steps completely silent, he could never catch her by surprise. Soon enough, she turned around and sent him a warm smile.

“How did your patrol go today?”

“Fine,” he replied.

“Good. Anything to report?”

He mulled over his thoughts. Usually he didn’t report back at all. There had been too many long, boring days that there hadn’t been any point. But now…he could only think of that scorched area, Lance’s reaction, and some part of him that wondered if she already knew the whole thing. She was supposed to know everything, yet she hadn’t told him. That uncertainty churned till it came bubbling out. “What’s the point? We never do anything! I don’t want to keep hiding, so why do we do it? The war is over.”

“Oh Keith…” A mix of emotions waged across her face before settling into a frown. “Are you too old for ‘Because I said so?’”

“Mom…” He huffed at her teasing.

“Well I tried,” she replied, the amusement lingering in her voice a moment. And then she crossed her arms. “You know it’s not safe yet.”

“No, I don’t know,” he scowled. “You and Shiro hardly tell me anything. All I know is that the Galra are out there, but it’s not just them is it?”

Her wings stiffened, “What do you mean?”

“The ‘scorched’ areas. I saw one today. No sort of fire could do that, they were drained dry!”

“Keith. Tell me where this was.”

“Why? So you can stop me? They’re the ones that need to be stopped!” His wings flared outwards as his voice grew louder.

She pressed her mouth together in a firm line, “I can’t do that, but the Galra aren’t the ones to blame either.”

“They killed dad!” he shouted and instantly regretted his words.

Silence filled in the air between them. It was too late to take it back, but it was the truth. The Galra were to blame for everything. He crossed his arms around himself, fingertips pressing firmly into the skin.

She let out a long sigh, her wings fluttered back and forth in movement again, “I haven’t forgotten about what happened to him. How could I? I want to see justice just as much as you do, but it’s not that simple.” She paused and continued when she saw he was listening. “There is more out there, but we don’t have enough information yet. All I ask is that you be patient until I know more...not that you’ve ever been good with waiting around. I’m amazed that you haven’t run off already.”

“So am I,” he admitted, letting out a sharp, dry laugh, and looked up to see her smirking at him. How could he have ever doubted her? There was no reason to think she knew anymore that what she had already told him. It was doubtful she even knew just how sick he was of the patrol, and how many times he had almost seriously ditched it.

“Now, about that area you mentioned?”

“Right.” He nodded. “But first there’s something else.”

They came to what seemed like a good compromise. Mom would gain another source of information, and he could finally be free of a meaningless job--let someone else have it. Once they worked out the details, it was easy to tell her everything that he had found about the area, where it was located, everything aside from Lance. Not that he wanted to hide anything, but he had no idea how she would react.

She didn’t notice the omission at all, hand under her chin and wings moving slowly in deep thought. “I don’t know what it all means, but we will investigate it. Let me know if you find anything else. And Keith?”

“Hm?”

“Try to be careful.” She gave him a lovingly worried look, and honestly he could understand why she was concerned.

“I will,” he promised, fully intending to keep it.

* * *

  
While the conversation hadn’t revealed any new answers, it did buoy his mood for the rest of the night and into the next day. The only one that noticed was Shiro, his eyebrows shooting to the top of his head, that then turned into a devilish look and Keith flew past him before he got barraged with questions. He might be feeling good, but he still wasn’t up for Shiro’s ‘brotherly love’ which was actually just teasing, and, besides, he didn’t want to be late. He landed as soon as he left the barrier. No one around, as usual, and he focused on hiding his wings and walked to the meeting spot. 

Lance was already there, head half buried inside a hedge, swaying his hips back and forth as he hummed some sort of nonsense tune. Keith had to bite back a laugh at the sheer level of obliviousness on display. Did he even realize how ridiculous he looked? Probably not, and blame it on the newfound good mood or impulse, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Blue watched as Keith crept forward, giving him a silent judging look from the sunny spot she had curled up in. At least she hadn’t made a sound. He began to channel his magic.

Normally, it was a constant gentle warmth, barely there, but now it flared up to spread its heat throughout his body, gathered around his hand. Potentially, he could turn it into an destructive blaze, but that wasn’t what he needed right now, so he willed it weaker. The whole time he kept making sure he wasn’t noticed, till he stretched an arm out and tapped Lance’s shoulder.

Instantly, the magic leapt from his fingers and into the tunic of its target, sending a jolt of heat to the area. It was barely a fraction of what he could do, but Lance yelped and jerked upright so fast that one would think he had been burned. He flailed about, nearly falling into the hedge, before he righted himself and whipped around to face Keith.

“You…!” He pointed an accusing finger.

“Yes?” Keith replied, face completely neutral.

“What did you do?”

“I walked here, like I usually do.”

“No. You did something else,” he stated and probed at a sleeve, probably expecting to see a singed spot, only to look baffled when he found nothing.

“What could I have done?” Keith smirked at his reaction, it was kind of fun.

“That’s what I want to know!” Lance marched closer to poke him in the chest.

“Fine, I’ll show you,” he hummed and lifted his hand where a single flame danced across a fingertip. He watched how Lance’s eyes widened, the fire reflecting in those blue pupils, completely mesmerized by the movements.

“You can do magic!” He sounded awe struck.

“I can,” Keith confirmed and extinguished the spell.

“That’s so awesome! What else can you do?”

He hadn’t expected such an amazed response, maybe it was because humans didn’t have magic at all? “Uh mostly just some fire based attacks.”

“You gotta show me, oh wait! You should show my friends, I had this great idea before you distracted me.”

The bright idea was also something unexpected, but sounded interesting. They would travel to the nearest village, where Lance lived and worked, and then he’d introduce his friends. He hadn’t really talked much about them before, surprisingly, but throughout the short walk he made up for that. Apparently, they were two of the smartest people in the village, and if they couldn’t figure out what the Galra were up to, no one could. For Keith’s part, he wished they would hurry up and get there. It would have been much faster if he could fly, but he didn’t know if he trusted Lance enough for that, and what would the villagers think? Maybe he could try it one time, on a day when it was dark and he was bored.

They entered the village, not wasting any time to look around. From a brief glance, it kind of seemed like Keith’s own home, just with less trees. That was all he was able to take in before Lance let him straight inside a small building. The inside was pleasantly warm and filled with the aroma of fresh baked bread, heated by an oven that had to be located somewhere in the back. It was also empty, aside from two other people, which suited Keith; he didn’t mind strangers, but too many could be overwhelming. These had to be Lance’s friends, and they were complete opposites in looks. One was a small, pale, brown-haired girl, and the other was a tall, dark-skin, dark-haired man.

“Hey, Lance! Nice to meet you, I’m Hunk,” the latter greeted with such a pleasant smile that it immediately made Keith feel welcomed.

“Hey.” The girl stayed where she was to give him a scrutinizing look, it reminded him of Lance’s cat.

“And...you’re Keith, right?” Hunk guessed.

“I told you guys we were coming…”

“Oh!” Hunk’s face brightened with delayed recognition. “The guy you’ve been telling us about. That Keith.”

Lance’s face turned an interesting shade of red, “That’s the first thing you say!? How many other Keith’s would there be?”

“I don’t know. Lots? There's that one you had a crush on back when we were kids.”

He watched as Lance yelped and tried to push his friend off to the side for a ‘private chat’ but Hunk just looked confused and didn’t budge.

“I don’t get the fuss.”

“It’s because he’s a dork,” the girl spoke up, looking bored.

“Yeah,” he agreed, and chuckled. It was nice to have a small sense of camaraderie already. Of course Lance would talk about him, it would have been odder if he hadn’t, especially prior to a first time meeting.

Lance seemed to realize the battle was fruitless and he looked desperate for a distraction, eyes locking onto his other friend. She had enough time to squawk ‘Don’t you dare!’ before she was yanked out of her seat and held up on display.

“--And this is Pidge!”

She shot a death glare backwards then focused on Keith, “So, elf, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“I haven’t had a chance to ever talk to one before.” she adjusted her glasses “Do you have magic? I know some do, and humans don’t seem to be capable of it at all. What is your society like? Do you really depend on the connection with nature more than any industrial tools to get by?”

Oh, she was one of those types, the inquisitive kind. Really, he knew about elves as much as he knew about plants, but it was too late now. So, he gave hopefully believable answers. At least it was easy to answer the one about magic. Her face practically lit up when he described it to her.

“Show me!”

“What? No! No showing!” Hunk waved his arms frantically, as if Keith was going to send the whole place up in flames at any moment.

“But it is pretty cool,” Lance added.

“Not in my shop! Not that I don’t uh...trust you, but I really don’t want the tables to get accidentally scorched.”

“I can control it,” Keith defended himself.

“Sure you can,” Hunk reassured in that way that said he didn’t believe him at all. “But how about this instead. I made a little something in honor of the occasion, so how about we all eat that?”

The other two agreed so quickly and Hunk disappeared to the back room so fast that Keith didn’t even had a chance to ask what was going on. He returned carrying a silver tray lined with four glass bowls filled with...blobs? That was the best way to describe it, the bowls held a thick yellowish substance that quivered when placed on the table, and the spoon stuck into the middle of each made one thing clear; they were supposed to eat these things.

“Oh man, this is awesome! Thanks, Hunk!” Lance dug in, making a contented sound, and Blue hopped up into his lap hoping for a share. Even Pidge looked happy, downing spoonfuls.

“What is this?” He poked the weird blob with the spoon, and quickly lost whatever appetite he had when it jiggled.

“Never had it.”

Lance sputtered, actually sputtered--spit drops flew across the table--and was at a complete loss for words.

Hunk came to the rescue, “So, you really haven’t had it before?”

He shook his head.

“Oh. I promise it’s really good, haven’t had a complaint yet. But, uh...if you don’t like it, that’s okay too. I can always make you something else. Or wait, what if it makes you sick. Maybe you shouldn’t--”

“Hunk, it’s fine,” he interrupted and glared down at the bowl.

He was dimly aware of how the others stared, either in pure fascination or disbelief, and then there was Hunk’s worried look… Keith couldn’t let something so stupid get to him, and the blob couldn’t taste that bad. Firmly resolved to try it, he brought the first spoonful to his mouth. It wiggled on his tongue, cold, slimy, and...sweet? The sugary taste almost overpowered his senses as it spread across his tongue. He swallowed it and soon wanted more. Scoop after scoop disappeared until the spoon clattered against the empty glass, and he resorted to scraping the sides to get the last few morsels. Hunk must have pitied the sight because he pushed his own untouched portion over.

Under any other circumstance, Keith would have refused the handout, and glared or argued till the other person backed off. But he couldn’t do it. Not when he still craved more of the treat, and he couldn’t turn down the generosity. So accepted the offering, making sure to savor it in slow bites this time. He got about halfway through before he noticed Lance staring at him.

“What?” Keith asked.

“Oh my gosh… You never had dessert before?” The revelation hung in the air.

“I’ve had some. This is just the first I’ve had this type. I guess the ingredients are pretty hard to get, so they aren’t made too often.”

“That’s...horrible,” Lance groaned and draped himself over the table in pure despair. Pidge had enough time to grab her dessert. Blue took advantage of the situation by hopping up and lapping up the remains of Lance’s dish.

“No! Bad cat.” Hunk tried to shoo her away, but her whole head was inside the bowl now.

“Aren’t you overreacting?” Pidge commented.

“No. I have to know what type of savage land doesn’t have dessert.”

Keith wrinkled his nose at that “It’s not savage. We’re pretty modern, we just don’t have it all the time, do you?”

“Well...no,” Lance conceded.

“Sounds like you have it pretty good.” Pidge ate the last of her pudding, looking critical.

“It’s alright,” Keith replied uneasily.

“No dessert,” Lance whined again.

“Will you stop that? We have it.” Seriously, he acted like it was the end of the world. Arguing over sweets and listening to Lance begging Hunk to ‘fix this travesty’ were not what he had in mind at all.

Pidge tapped the side of her bowl, clanging it for attention. “Hey did you drag me away from my work just to watch this shit show?”

“Oh!” Lance perked back up, pulling the empty dish away from Blue. “We gotta show you something. Did you bring your tinker thingy?”

“It’s a detection device!” she yelled and ran after Lance who had already scrambled out of his chair and made for the door.

“Guys, wait for me. I’ll clean up later, sorry,” Hunk apologized and left next.

Keith grumbled and downed the last of the pudding, hoping he would get to eat it again sometime. Then he walked outside, Blue on his tail as he caught up with the others.

The scorched area hadn’t changed. It was still just as dead as the first time, it didn’t even look like it had spread. So whatever Lance hoped for his friends to find, he wasn’t sure. Pidge looked fascinated by it, she had already pulled out a weird metal box and held it close to the ground.

“What is _that_ thing?” he asked.

“This?” She held it up and he saw that it fit snugly in the palm of her hand. “It’s supposed to be a magic detection device.” She waved it towards him and it emitted a soft ‘beep’. “It works!”

“Did you just…” He blinked as she turned away, ignoring him. That shouldn’t have been possible, no one could detect magic, let alone with something so small. But she had accomplished the impossible feat.

“So what happened here anyway?” she asked, listening to a set of steady beeps.

“That’s what you’re supposed to tell us, Pidgey.” Lance leaned against a tree, and Blue plodded over to join him.

“Hmm I don’t know yet. It’s definitely magic related.”

“This isn’t natural at all,” Hunk spoke up, shifting nervously as he motioned at a clump of decaying dandelions. “Like these little guys should be thriving. It’s too creepy.”

As if that wasn’t obvious already, but Keith knew what he meant. The area made him uneasy, goosebumps prickled across his skin. All they could do was wait and then get the hell out of here.

Pidge swept the device through the air, “Hmm it’s different, but...I think I got it.” She stood up, just as an arrow planted itself into the ground directly where she had been.

For a few short moments they all stared numbly at the weapon. Keith was the first to break out of the daze, spinning towards the direction it had come from and spotted five figures getting closer. Lance and Hunk screamed.

“Stay back!” he shouted at them and drew his weapon. _Shit, shit, shit._ An archer had another arrow nocked, prepared to fire. If he was lucky, he could take them out first. He yelled as he began a charge. Before he got more than a foot, a stone bashed the archer in the middle of their forehead; they swayed, then dropped to the ground in a dazed heap.

On reflex, he glanced backwards to see that Pidge and Hunk snapped out of their shock and had armed themselves with some sturdy tree branches, but Lance shocked him. A slingshot spun in a whirring blur, ready to chuck another projectile. Keith had enough time to wonder if he had it this whole time. Then Lance shouted.

“Keith!”

The warning came just as a blade slashed past him, the sharp edge coming too close as he barely twisted out of the way. He turned as he drew his own weapon, metal clashed against metal and he got a good look at the attacker. Purple skin, pointed ears, _Galra._

He ground his teeth together and pushed back. _It’s them!_ His fingers clenched and he felt the heat rise before he saw it. Fire bloomed around his weapon, flames licked around the edge, and fear flicked through the Galra’s eyes. They hesitated and that was all he needed to strike. The blade sunk in and they fell, possibly dead or at least too injured to get up again, there was no time to check. Sounds of fighting rang through his ears. With a start he remembered the others and scanned the area.

The trio held their own for now. Hunk and Pidge were using the branches like clubs to fend off attackers. Pidge was especially vicious, often running in to give a target a few solid whacks and dashed off to the next victim before they had a chance to retaliate. Keith quickly joined the melee, blade twirling from one fighter to the next. His work was made a bit easier as Lance peppered the figures with rocks, leaving them open for him to finish off. Like Pidge, he moved too fast to get hit, but as the remaining enemies grouped together he couldn’t avoid them all.

That’s what happened as an attack brushed past, the blade sliced through his tunic and cut a shallow gash across his shoulder. Keith screamed and released a blast of magic, the flames slammed into their chest and flung them backwards. They landed in a heap and he stepped over to knock them out with a quick blow from the knife’s hilt. He pressed a hand to his shoulder and winced at the pain and the sharp smell of singed skin. _Was that all of them?_ No, all the fighters were down, except one.

The last stood taller than the rest, or looked it due to the long hooded cloak and a mask that hid their features. They stayed eerily still as their arms rose above their head, a dark energy crackled between their hands. Whatever they planned to do, Keith was determined to get them first. His own magic gathered as he charged in and attacked. His knife tore through empty air, the figure had vanished.

“Wha--?”

A powerful shockwave slammed into his back. The impact sent him hurtling through the air on a short breathless flight until he slammed into a tree. He dropped to the ground, limp. Dazed and desperate for air, his mouth gaped open uselessly, sucking in short, wheezy gasps. Slowly, he lifted himself up. His body protested every movement. He couldn’t stay like this, he had to make sure the others were okay. _Move!_ he berated himself, till he managed to force his head upright; a decision he instantly regretted as his vision blackened and caught himself from hitting the ground again. Once more he tried and succeeded, only for his stomach to plummet at the scene before him.

Lance and the others had the figure surrounded, but that same energy started to form again and he could see their uncertainty. They wouldn’t stand a chance. With that thought, he pushed himself upright, using the tree for support. The others yelled something, but everything sounded dim and he had to concentrate. Somehow he had managed to keep ahold of his dagger--a miracle--and he summoned flames around the blade. He took a steadying breath, swung his arm back, and chucked the knife at the robed figure. The weapon wobbled through the air, so shaky that he didn’t think it was going to make it. _Come on, come on, hit!_ It buried itself into the figure’s shoulder, the fire already spreading to ignite the cloth. The others erupted into shouts, loud enough for him to make out.

“Yeah! Nice job Keith!”

“Awesome!”

But the figure didn’t falter, they didn’t even make a sound as they wrapped their hand around the hilt and pulled it out, letting the blade fall. From there they vanished again, and reappeared directly in front of Keith. He gritted his teeth and summoned up more magic to shoot a series of blasts. All he needed was one clear shot, but no matter what he did, no matter how he tried to catch them by surprise, it wasn't enough. They dodged each one, doing that damn disappearing trick again and again. Why the _fuck_ wouldn't they stay still!? His wings flared out to help him spin around and he finally caught them, raising his hand to incinerate them to hell. Only to feel the familiar tug of his magic fizzling out. Shit! The figure looked right at him, head inclined in an owlish tilt and he waited for what would come next.  No magic, no knife, but like hell would he go down without a fight, even if he had to resort to using his fists. But instead of attacking, the figure vanished one last time and didn't reappear. A quick glance showed no remaining sign. It had to be a trick. It didn’t make any sense.

“What the hell was that?” Lance marched over with purposeful steps.

“I dunno,” he replied honestly, unable to form a proper answer. This was all too much to think about, and not made any easier by how much he hurt, even his brain felt fuzzy.

“And why the hell do you have wings!?”

Oh, well shit again… That's right, they had appeared...when? Maybe when he hit the tree or sometime after that? He was too tired to deal with this. All the adrenaline from fighting had worn off, and he just wanted to sleep to regain his magic reserves. That'd be okay, right? Everyone was safe, he could deal with Lance's anger later. He’d just rest for a moment...

“Keith? Keith! Don’t you pass out on me! I swear--”

It was too late, he felt himself tip forward, the rest of Lance’s sentence lost to a blissful darkness.

* * *

  
Consciousness returned with the sense that he was being stared at. That vague disturbing feeling of someone being in the same room as you, even if you couldn’t see them. It was annoying, but Keith was determined to ignore it. 

“Come on. I know you’re awake.” Someone poked his shoulder.

“Go away,” he muttered, swatting blindly at the presence, and brushed against something soft.

“No way. We want answers here.”

When he still refused to budge, a warm, solid, object was placed on his chest. He cracked his eyes open to investigate and was met with a closeup view of Lance’s cat, curled up quite contently.  

“Off,” he groaned, aiming to push her away, but it was a half-hearted attempt, and instead his hand flopped on top of her as she kneaded his tunic with ‘happy paws.’ Silently, he was glad to see her. He hadn’t known what had happened during the battle.

“Oh, look who’s finally awake.” Lance gazed down at him with an annoyed stare. Which what was his problem? He was the injured one here.

“Yeah.” Keith winced as he got himself into a sitting position, letting Blue slide into his lap. A grassy clearing spread out as far as he could see, everything fresh and healthy, the scorched area nowhere in sight. It was odd to think that he had been carried here, but that’s what must have happened.

“So when were you going to tell us?”

“What?”

“The wings, hello?”

Oh. Right…

“I knew it! I fucking knew it.” Pidge interrupted as she reached for a wing, which he fluttered out of her grasp.

“Knew what?”

“That you couldn’t be an elf, it didn’t add up.”

“Well congratulations. The secret’s out,” he replied with a bitter edge to his voice.

“Why would you hide something like this? I thought we bonded,” Lance half-whined.

Keith scoffed. “And what? Most people think we don’t associate with others at all, and being an elf is already odd enough.”

“You still should’ve said something! This is a pretty big deal and--”

“--Hey guys, I think I got everything?” Hunk approached, holding a bowl and some other herbal supplies.

Lance took it wordlessly, adding herbs and other components together, and mashed them up with what was probably more force than needed. “And I know it’s odd! But you _can_ trust us you know? Now lose the shirt so I can get that wound.”

“I’m working on it.” He glared but did as told, shrugging one arm out to expose his skin. The injury still oozed some, but it wasn’t that bad. Though going by how Hunk’s face paled, maybe his judgement was off. And he was almost surprised that he wasn’t protesting more. Maybe he did trust them somewhat. “What happened to the Galra?”

“Well after your impromptu nap, we were gonna notify the village guards to take care of them. But we had to carry your sorry butt elsewhere first, since we didn’t know what they’d do with you. By the time we got back, they were all gone. Then Hunk went to get my things and you know the rest.”

“What do you mean gone?” He furrowed his brows. That was impossible.

“Just what I said. Now hold still.” Lance smacked the newly made poultice into the wound.

Keith yelped loudly. “What kind of healer are you!?” 

“The tough love kind, Keithy. Now suck it up.”

He breathed through the throbbing. Okay, so Lance was a little ticked off, which was a bit surprising, since usually he was so carefree. Hunk seemed more worried, while Pidge looked like she was just waiting for the right opportunity to study him. Keith glowered anyway, but then Lance shoved a bowl at him and he couldn’t help but ask, “What’s this?”

“It’s supposed to be good for restoring energy. No clue if it’ll help your magic levels, but hey I don’t think it’ll kill you.”

“Great,” Keith replied dryly before downing the whole thing and cringed “Ugh! That’s awful.”

“Good. And that’s exactly why you should’ve told us. So I could have researched Fae healing herbs.”

“It’s still interesting,” Pidge spoke. “I thought the Fae had all disappeared or died after the war or something.”

“Obviously not.”

Lance piped up, “Wasn’t there that big battle? There was that one guy, Shiro, man he was my hero.”

Huh? Shiro? It couldn’t be...but how many other Fae with that name were there. “What did he do?”

“What? You don’t know? Man, it was awesome. He took on like three Druids by himself, which uh turns out that creepy dude we fought? Druid. So imagine that plus countless other enemies. Everything was going great until Haggar herself joined the battle and defeated him. But it was a huge turning point in the war and let the main force take out Zarkon.”

Keith could picture it. See Shiro in the midst of battle, soaring above the enemy forces on those great black-white wings before plummeting into the fight. Dad probably off in the midst of another fray to thin the numbers, nothing large enough for the books, but still important. Had Shiro seen his final moments? Was that what he had gone through? Why he didn’t want to talk? The thought of it all made his mouth run dry and he had to wet his lips before speaking, “Was there anyone else mentioned…?”

“Huh?” Lance paused in his retelling, giving Keith a scrutinizing look.

“Other Fae fighters.”

“Yeah, there was-- Um...” he trailed off before looking at Pidge for help. “Pidge?”

She rattled off a few names that he didn’t recognize. “There were others, but most names were lost when they fell in battle. And it’s not like anyone knew where to find out who they were. So the only thing left is a commemorative marker.”

Keith remembered, vaguely, the others who had been with dad and Shiro. That could fill in some blanks, but how many others would stay unknown casualties…

“...They’re wrong you know,” he spoke up.

“What?” Lance gaped.

“Shiro. He was captured, not killed, and he escaped.”

They looked at him like he had grown snakes on his back instead of wings.

“How do know that?”

“He’s from our village. He’s like a brother to me.”

“You know him! Oh gosh. I should’ve put it together. He’s Fae, you’re Fae. Tell me all about him!” Lance grabbed ahold of Keith’s shoulders in his excitement, which earned a pained ‘Ow.’ That was also when he seemed to realize that he was there was nothing underneath his hands except for bare skin. He stared at the exposed area for a solid second before scrambling backwards and shouting, “Put some clothes on!”

“I’m already dressed.” Keith huffed and put his arm back in the sleeve, careful to secure the poultice underneath the material.

“How does that work anyway?” Pidge asked, leaning in.

“What?”

“Your wings. They look too flimsy to support you.”

“Oooh! They’re silky!” Hunk said in awe. Keith felt the odd tingling sensation that came with someone grabbing his wing; like the numb electricity of a limb that had fallen asleep.

“They’re not scaly? I want to feel!”

“Me too!” Lance recovered enough from the brief embarrassment to become just as curious as Pidge.

“No one is touching them!” He forced his wings out of view--at least he had recovered enough magic for that--and stood up to shake off the hands. This was insane, he wanted to ask more about the missing Galra, and the magic, but no all his ‘friends’ were scatterbrained.

“Where’d they go?” Pidge prodded the air uselessly, occasionally brushing against one but couldn’t find it long enough to get a grip.

“Personal space, guys?” He flapped up into the air, hovering out of reach.

“That looks so weird,” Hunk commented, and Lance nodded in agreement. Well, it probably did look like he was floating.

Pidge just seemed more and more excited. “How high can you go, how fast? What’s your carrying capacity?”

Keith huffed, “Pretty high, I don’t know, and I could carry you, or maybe Lance even.”

Lance perked up at that. “This I gotta see. Catch me!” He took a running leap to try and grab Keith’s legs, only for Keith to dart away at the last minute and instead of going airborne, Lance got a nice faceful of dirt.

Keith hovered down to him, smirking. “You missed.”

Lance groaned, turning over and yelped “Holy Hells!” His eyes went wide and a hand flew to clutch his chest. “You look like a ghost! Get those wings out pronto!”

Keith rolled his eyes but let his wings show again.

“Why didn’t you catch me?”

“You didn’t warn me! Of course I dodged.”

“I bet you can’t actually lift me and are too scared to say so!”

“I’m not scared!”

“Then prove it!”

“Fine I--”

“Guys!” Hunk came in between them. “Um, how about we maybe wait on the whole flight lesson thing? Keith is still injured, and I think we could all use a good night’s rest too, after today.”

That did sound like a good idea. He had been so ready to prove himself that he had completely forgotten about the wound. Now that he was paying attention, it was starting to throb. But was he going to back down from a challenge and an insult to his flying skills? Never.

“No, we’re doing this now,” he replied firmly.

Pidge grinned, “Great! I want to do some tests.”

Oh boy, what had he got himself into?

By the time they agreed on a destination and had given into Pidge, who insisted on picking up ‘supplies’, and then dropped off Blue, it was late. The sun had already started to set and the full moon began its ascent into the sky. They stayed in the same clearing, where the nearest feature was a range of small grassy hills that rose up out of the land. They were perhaps only fifteen feet at the highest, and the ground followed a gentle slope upwards. On the way, they arranged that they would do the flight test from the top; the added elevation would help to compensate for the additional weight. Lance still complained when Keith took to the sky and landed on top of the nearest point, something about him being a cheater.

“I don’t see why you couldn’t fly me up there!”

“This is easier,” he shouted back, grinning. “Come on, you can’t handle a little climb?”

“I’ll show you!” Lance began the trek upwards while his two friends watched. Hunk didn’t even look nervous, which proved that the climb wasn’t that difficult. Really, it was more of a steep walk rather than something that really required the use of any grip strength, other than a few sections.

Keith flexed his wings while he waited. Honestly, he was feeling a little excited by all this. It was the first time he was attempting to fly with someone--not that Lance needed to know that. Besides, he was confident in his ability and in the choice of location. At that moment, he saw the top of a mop of brown hair and a tanned hand poke over the ridge. He leaned in to help grab and pull him up the last few steps.

“Gee...thanks.” Lance panted heavily as he caught his breath.

“You’re welcome.”

“Very funny.” He huffed back, but Keith caught the hint of amusement. “You sure this is going to work?”

There was a nervous glance back that Keith followed. They really weren’t that high. “Yeah, but you can back out if you want.”

“Me? Back out? No way. I’m just thinking of your safety, don’t want you straining those dainty little wings. I’m ready at any time, unless you’re scared.”

Keith bristled at that, rising to the challenge again. “Just shut up and trust me.”

With that, he closed the small distance between them and scooped Lance up into his arms. He might have chuckled at the way that he flailed and yelped to ‘watch the hands!’ and then Keith was running for the edge and leaped.

The momentum carried them upwards, and he waited till hitting the peak of the jump before he started flapping. He loved this. The sense of exhilaration that ran through him, how the wind blew through his hair. He couldn’t see Lance’s expression, but he could hear the awestruck ‘woah’ that escaped in response. Keith smiled as they rose, the aircurrents letting them hover peacefully in the air. The moon was the only thing above them now, that and the clear sky full of twinkling stars.

“This is pretty nice,” Lance admitted. The wind carried them up a bit further so that they hung suspended in a open patch of dusk, seeing the small green dots of the trees below and the flat sheets of open fields. Then he hit an air pocket and the small respite was shattered. They dropped a foot and began a steady descent.

“Knock it off!” Lance yelped.

“Don’t blame me.” Keith gritted his teeth and adjusted his wings to steady them.

There wasn’t enough of an updraft, and no matter how much he strained his wings, he couldn’t compensate, they continued to fall. Lance’s awed gasps shortly turned into a mix of shrill screaming and cursing.

There was still a chance he could salvage this, he just needed to find a good wind current and he could at least level them out. But it was no use, they were destined to crash. He flared his wings wide to slow their descent as much as possible, and pulled Lance close to tuck him against his chest. By the time they hit the ground they were still going too fast. The impact rattled through his body and they tumbled end over end in a set of out of control somersaults. Even though he tried to keep a tight grip, he lost ahold of Lance at some point, and became aware only of the constant bouncing and smaller jarring shocks. A final thud brought him to a blissful halt. His head was a dizzy, throbbing mess, but somehow he was okay.

“...Lance?” he groaned out, rubbing his head and untangling himself from the heap he had ended up in.

“Here,” came the weak reply. Lance had ended up in a similar state nearby, sprawled out on the ground. He was covered in scrapes, and the start of what were sure to be some good bruises, but otherwise looked okay. “I’m never trusting you again…”

“Good to see you too.” Keith winced as he half crawled over the small distance. Meanwhile, Lance made slow progress to get himself upright, letting out small complaints and curses along the way. That was fine. It gave Keith the time he needed to rub his own sore spots and check for injuries. His shoulder felt like it was on fire, but it was a silent blessing that his wings were much more durable than they looked--there wasn’t a single tear on them--that or he had been extremely lucky.

“I knew your wings were too puny. I’m never trusting you again,” Lance repeated himself, finally sitting upright.

“That wasn’t the problem. You just so...lanky.” He made a vague gesture. “I couldn’t hold you.”

“I don’t want to hear that from a guy that looks like a badly made scarecrow right now. You’re covered in branches!”

He reached over to start picking out pieces of sticks and leaves that had gotten tangled up in the thick hair.

“What. It’s soft?” Lance’s exclaimed in astonishment, while his fingers carded through the strands as if trying to figure out some weird puzzle. Keith opened his mouth to protest, but no sound came out as the search turned into more of a massage. That was...nice. It had been a long time since someone had combed through his scalp like this, especially how the nails occasionally scratched just the right spot. Perhaps some of the touches lingered a bit longer than necessary, but he wasn’t going to complain when it felt so nice.

“Guys! There you are!”

Keith almost whined when those fingers jolted away. He caught a glimpse of a dazed and slightly flushed looking Lance before he turned away.

“H-Hey Hunk!”

Hunk ran up to them and doubled over in great gasping breaths when he stopped. Pidge was right behind him, managing to keep up, but looked like she was gonna collapse at any moment.

“Are you guys okay?” Hunk still panted but glanced over them both in worry.

“We’re fine, just Keith here is not as good at flying as he claimed.”

“I told you, you were too lanky.”

“I’m all muscle.” He flexed an arm, and Keith didn’t know what that was exactly supposed to prove.

“I hate you both...why couldn’t you have crashed closer,” Pidge groaned her arrival.

“Didn’t plan to crash at all,” Keith pouted.

After that, it turned into a discussion of explaining what happened, and deciding two things. First, no he would not try that again; both him and Lance actually agreed on that (for now). Second, he would help Pidge with two tests, no more. He had no idea what she wanted, but that should be safe enough.

She wanted to test his weight carrying capacity, which would’ve been a good idea to do earlier, but she waved it off as them being too competitive to listen to reason anyway. At least this time, it was agreed that he could do all the tests from ground level.

“Alright, you said you shouldn’t have problems carrying me. Take me back to where all my stuff is.” She crossed her arms and waited. Oh she was serious, he almost thought it was admirable, especially after witnessing the crash. But he wasn’t a transport service.

“No. Just do it here.”

“Look,” she gave him a pointed glare, “I need the equipment for the tests, I halfway killed myself to get here, like hell I’m going to do it again while lugging 90 pounds of stuff. And I'm not making Hunk do it either.”

_She brought how much?_

“I wouldn’t trust him, Pidge, he’ll probably drop you,” Lance chimed in.

She adjusted her glasses. “Hmm...maybe you’re right. I guess we should just forget about it. From all that I read of the Fae, I had expected more.”

Keith saw the devilish look shared between the two, but he couldn’t help stop himself. “Oh for the love of--”

He stretched out his shoulder, it still hurt but it was bearable. Then he ran, scooping up Pidge under her armpits as he flapped to get airborne.

It was so much easier than the attempt with Lance had gone, all she did was squawk in protest before realizing that it was better to stay still. He glided in a low sweeping arc for the duration of the short flight, letting her legs trail barely above the ground. They flew until the bundled mass of Pidge’s things drew closer and he deposited her next to it--she stumbled but didn’t fall. His own landing was much smoother, coming to a stop like he had just finished a casual run.

“That shouldn’t have been possible.” She made yet another grab for his wings, which he pulled in, how many times would it take till she learned?

“How do they work?”

“They just do? Do you question how you walk?”

“No, but I at least understand the biological structure behind it.” She circled around behind him. “I don’t even see how they stay attached, the force and lift you should need… You’re like a human bumblebee.”

“Hey! Why couldn’t you do that with me!”

Thank goodness for the arrival of a distraction. At the rate of Pidge’s questions, she might have wanted to try taking a sample, the thought sent a small shiver through his wings. Lance was already almost there, with Hunk trailing behind.

“I shouldn’t have moved,” Hunk groaned, and Keith did feel a bit sorry for him.

The testing proceeded after that, with Hunk helping to load bags of flour into his arms, while Pidge monitored his attempts to take off. It was all a bit cumbersome, and he started to struggle more with keeping hold of the bulky items than with the weight. Though it was with a burst of stubbornness that he managed the task with a load equivalent to Lance, and he couldn’t resist sending a smirk at him.

“That’s cheating.”

“How?” He let the flour drop and rolled his shoulders, even with regular exercise they were feeling stiff again, he really should devote more time to strength training--most of the focus went to his fighting skills.

“You were only up there for a minute.”

Pidge hummed “It still counts, that was just to check takeoff weight capability from a standing position. Next, we’ll do duration, or do you want to try another bag?”

“No,” he stated.

The mischievous look faded, but she nodded and jotted down a note in her book.

Hunk asked, “How about dinner first? I managed to grab some food.”

They all quickly agreed to that and he pulled out a basket that had been buried by the mess of Pidge’s things and opened it up. Keith leaned forward in interest as what looked like an endless amount of food was removed and carefully setup on the grass. For a ‘quick grab’ there was a lot; mini meat pies that smelled freshly baked, sliced up apples, a few canteens of water, and pieces of chocolate cake that Keith immediately zeroed in on. He felt his mouth start watering at the prospect, two sweet things in one day, this was like heaven. If this was his reward for putting up with Pidge’s tests, then he’d do it everyday.

“Later.” Hunk noticed and moved the dessert out of view.

They all settled in to start eating, and the regular food at least didn’t disappoint either. Everything was fresh and crunchy, and it was nice to just sit and recharge while eating and listening to the others chat. The talk sometimes went back to questions about Keith’s heritage and what it was like, and he did get an answer for how Pidge had sensed a magic source that was unlike his own, but for the most part it stayed on idle topics, and teasing Lance.

“I could hear your scream all the way from here. I thought you got murdered.” Pidge grinned.

“Close enough. That scared the bejeezus out of me. I’m surprised I didn’t go gray. I didn’t actually go gray, did I?” He started trying to tilt his head, but he couldn’t get a good enough glimpse of the short hair.

“Hmm. I think there might be one.” Keith leaned forward.

“What!? Where?” His face took on a look of mild panic.

“Oh yeah, you totally do,” Pidge snickered.

“Come on. This is a real potential crisis here. Where is it?”

“Right…” Keith tilted closer, reaching out and watching as Lance went still in nervous anticipation. “...Here.” He flicked his nose.

Lance’s hands immediately flew to cover the area, sending the other two into a laughing fit. “So I’m guessing there isn’t one.” He rubbed his nose.

“No, your hair is fine.” Keith stifled his chuckles.

“Oh they got you good.” Even Hunk looked like he was trying not to laugh.

“Traitors. Should’ve known better than to trust someone that has hair like this.” He reached to tug lightly on the end of a dark lock.

“Hm? What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing! It’s obvious you don’t take care of it, yet it’s still so soft. It’s not fair.”

“So you’re jealous?” he asked, feeling a bit amused by all this.

“No! You’re jealous!” Lance dropped his hand.

“Of?”

“Obviously, everything.”

“Ooh. Good comeback, Lance,” Hunk replied, deciding to try and be supportive of his friend.

The rest of the talk quieted again as they finished the food and moved onto dessert, the cake was even more delicious than the pudding had been. Keith was stuffed by the end. It became a nice, comfortable sort of laziness. Pidge didn’t even bring up putting him through more tests. They all sat around and talked more, what they would do tomorrow, what kinds of things Hunk could make next. By the time a cloud passed in front of the moon, throwing them into full darkness for a moment, they realized it was time to pack up and meet again tomorrow.

* * *

A good rest and some salve from the healers--they didn’t even ask why he needed it--did wonders for his shoulder, and only some slight stiffness remained. He passed on a report to mom about what happened and then he left the village. 

Before arriving, he had expected to be put through more of Pidge’s tests or maybe they could try the flight lesson again. He had to prove it to Lance that he could fly without sending them both careening to the ground. Now that he had gotten an idea of the weight, the chances of succeeding seemed even higher. Maybe he needed a higher takeoff point, if Lance didn’t protest to the climb. What he didn’t expect was to find his three friends cornered, backs against a tree, with three Galra closing in on them.

Keith thought he never moved so fast.

He leapt into the air, rapidly beating his wings. If he spared a moment to look back, he would've seen how they blurred into a gray smudge. But he didn't have time for that. All he could see was the grim determination set on all their faces. Hunk and Pidge had managed to grab some branches again--he really needed to get them some proper weapons--and were using them to keep the Galra back. Lance had his slingshot again, but he had to be low on ammunition as he seemed to be trying to decide which target to take out first; Keith saved him the trouble.

The first Galra didn't even see him till he had his dagger embedded in their shoulder, he twisted in midair to pull it out, and the blade spun towards the next target as they turned towards him. The next moments were just as quick. The first enemy dropped as he sliced at the second, using the weight of gravity to pull them down as he landed. At the same time, Lance used his last stone to strike the last one unconscious, as they were about to go for Keith.

"Everyone okay?" Keith asked, cleaning off the knife before re-sheathing it. Pidge was already in the process of tying up the injured, but still alive Galra. Good. Maybe now they could get some answers.

"Y-yeah. Thanks." Hunk bent down to help Pidge. Even though they had just been attacked, he still treated the Galra with a certain gentleness. Making sure that they weren't at risk of dying from blood loss, and even bugged a poultice off of Lance. Keith waited till they were all secured tight and approached the most alert one.

"Okay. What are you after." He grabbed them.

The Galra just clamped their mouth shut.

He drew the blade to their throat. "Talk."

"Hey Keith! Don't kill them, we'll never get answers that way."

"There's two others left, maybe one of them will be more cooperative." He leveled his gaze at the Galra. He had to pull off this bluff. No matter how bad it got, he didn't want to be a murderer. Not if there wasn't a good reason for it. And there had to be some reason why the Galra were doing this. They couldn’t all be bad, so why?

Unfortunately, the Galra seemed to sense his hesitation, or was willing to take any information to the grave--didn't they have that 'Victory or Death' motto? Either way, they didn't talk, and despite his threats, he wasn't the type to resort to torture. He did, however, push the Galra over in his frustration, and winced when they hit the ground harder than he planned.

Lance patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, we'll figure it out. How about you? Want to share anything?" he asked of the only other conscious Galra, but they were just as tight lipped as the others.

"Hunk, go get the guards. This time they aren't gonna pull that disappearing act on us again." Pidge glared downwards.

"What about Keith? He can't exactly stick around when they show up. We went over that before."

"Oh for fuck’s sake--" Pidge looked ready to explode. "I know that! But he can't stay. So either go with him, or stay. Do whatever."

"But that'd leave you here alone..."

"What don't think I can handle myself? I got it covered."

"That's not what I'm saying." Lance put a hand on his hips.

"Guys?" Keith spoke up. This was starting to get too heated. He understood they were all desperate for answers, and it was expected that someone would eventually snap. But the two completely ignored him.

"Well, what are you saying then? Don't treat me like I'm helpless just because you took out guys more than me."

"Don't make this into a competition, Pidgey."

"Guys!" Keith shouted and that finally got their attention. They turned to him with expectant looks.

"Why don't I just do this?" He let his wings shimmer out of view, and the delayed reaction they gave was almost amusing.

"Oh, I forgot you could do that..." Lance admitted sheepishly.

"Ah!" Pidge pulled at her hair "Oh gods, I must be getting dumber. I'm still not used to that."

Hunk spoke up, "Hey if it makes you guys feel better, it's something we're all learning about. Oh except for Keith, of course. I kind of forgot about it too."

Keith chuckled.

Hunk left to get the guards. They tried interrogating the Galra a bit more, but no progress could be made so they started speculating about what their purpose could be. Pidge came up with the most theories; ranging anywhere from having a mission to kidnap nobles to serving as scouts to check for village weak points. Which they all were just as likely. One that she touched on, was why this time they came after his friends specifically.

"Maybe it's because of how we caught them?" Pidge speculated.

"Like a leave no witnesses thing?"

"Possibly."

"Let's just drop it for now." He didn't want to think about it. If that was true, it meant that they were all still in danger, and they might not be so lucky next time.

Thankfully, it didn't take Hunk long to return, with two serious looking guards in tow. They questioned everyone on what had happened, but otherwise they didn't seem to think anything about Keith was suspicious. Not that they didn't think it was odd--he was obviously a stranger and they asked him more questions than the others--but they seemed satisfied with the cover story he had first told Lance and friends. Then the guards left, and took the new prisoners with them.

Well that settled it. They were all going to get some real training. Pidge and Hunk were going to get actual staves, no more of this random branch grabbing nonsense, and he was going to show them how to use them, or at least teach them some basic defensive positions. Oh and Lance was going to never run out of ammo again. Screw his protests that he needed room for his herbal stuff.

"I don't care! I'll stuff them in your head then. You have enough space there at least," he finally snapped after about the fifth similar complaint. 

"Hey don't blame me that we're suddenly a Galra magnet!"

“I’m not!” He gritted his teeth. Why didn’t he get it.

Hunk stepped in with a suggestion that it wouldn't be any trouble at all to put together a better pouch, one that would have separate compartments for both herbs and pellets. While he worked on designing that with Pidge's help, Keith worked on whittling down some tree branches. Lance intermittently kept occupied by searching for stones or by drawing doodles in the dirt with the cast off sticks, which while the last one didn't sound helpful, it did help distract Keith while he worked.

Soon enough he had two serviceable poles and passed them out to begin lessons. He drilled them on what he knew, which, if it had been close combat, would be more detailed. It would be a lot easier if it was Shiro doing this, but that was a meeting he wanted to delay, if possible. The village was hidden for a reason, and what would happen if three humans waltzed in wasn’t something he wanted to test. By the end of it, they were all sweating, and looked ready to drop, but they had also showed improvement in the brief time. Hunk proved to be good at defending and occasionally surprised himself--and Keith--by going for a strong strike when there was an opening. Pidge showed talent for the quick hits, and tried to use the environment to her advantage. There were even a few times where she came close to catching Keith. And Lance... Well it was clear that he had thought he was going to get out of the whole thing scot free, making ‘encouraging’ comments to his friends while they practiced, and then applauded when it seemed like they were done.

“Hey! Great job guys. Hunk, I had no idea you could move like that. Pidge, you might end up being better at this than Keith, but you were moving a bit slow at the end there.”

“Like you could do better.”

He nodded. “Ah maybe, doesn’t look that hard. But you know, long range.”

Keith grabbed Pidge’s weapon and tossed it at Lance, “Actually, it _is_ your turn.”

He fumbled to catch the pole, nearly letting it slip through his hands. “Say what? Maybe you didn’t hear me, but long range? I fight from a distance. I don’t need this.”

“And when you run out of ammo or get cornered like you did earlier?” He took Hunk’s weapon next, swinging it slightly to get a feel for its balance. Compared to his knife, the heft felt weird, and if this was a real fight, he’d be at a disadvantage, but against Lance? No problem.

“I’ll manage. I bet I can even take you out. ” Lance gave the pole a small twirl before holding it steady.

“Bring it, sharpshooter.”

Lance beamed at the nickname and came rushing at Keith, swinging the pole in a wide arc towards Keith’s side. It was similar to one of the moves Pidge had attempted, and it was also completely wrong, leaving a huge opening that Keith used to lightly jab Lance in the ribs.

“Ow! Oh that’s it!” The attack renewed, with him leaving less openings and moving more towards protection. Keith had no problem shifting to the offensive, it was what he was good at, and while he didn’t go all out, he didn’t make it too easy either. He did more jabs and some sweeps that were blocked without too much trouble. Lance wasn’t skilled, but he was good at observing, and was soon predicting where the next attack would come from, as evidenced by meeting Keith’s next strike. The poles clashed against each other, and had to grin a bit at the victorious look on Lance’s face.

“Want to give up?”

“No.”

He stretched his wings out and saw the brief look of confusion pass across Lance’s face. Then he flapped into the air, twisted around behind him, and knocked his legs out from under him. Lance ended up in the dirt, again.

“Oof…” He coughed and turned over. “Cheater.”

“It’s not cheating,” he insisted, holding out a hand to help him up.

Pidge approached, glancing down at Lance. “Geez, man up and grow a pair.”

“Pidge! Language!” Lance sputtered.

“Of wings, Lance, wings.” She smirked, knowing exactly what she had implied, and earned a glare in response.

Hunk stooped to gather the weapons “I hope we never have to use these.”

Keith nodded “That’s the goal. But we’ll still do regular training.”

They all groaned.

* * *

 

The following week settled into a routine. In the mornings, Keith spent time with Lance to gather supplies, and then they met Hunk and Pidge for lunch and got some training in. Right now it was still early and he stretched to let the morning sun warm his wings. He spotted Lance in the distance and couldn’t help but smile a bit as he approached, Blue strolling alongside him as normal. Though one thing was different; Lance already had a collection of flowers in his hand and he held them out towards Keith.

“Uh here.”

Keith looked at the flowers then at Lance. He seemed to be expecting something, shifting back and forth on his feet while a peculiar red tint rose on his face. It was puzzling for a brief moment before the answer dawned. “Oh I know this one. Pink aster, right? I thought you would give me something more challenging.” He grinned at correctly guessing the plant.

“What? No! I mean yes, but--!” Lance turned even redder and pushed the bouquet towards him again. “It’s a gift! Just a gift, ok? As uh...thanks for all the lessons, and the help, and such.”

“Ah, you’re welcome?” Keith accepted the present, looking closer at the flowers. Something was nagging him, but he couldn’t quite grasp it. Something about the plants and their specific meaning. Damnit, it was something Lance had told him too.

“Thanks? That’s all I get?” Lance watched him, and sounded strangely disappointed.

“It’s a nice gift?” Keith tried again.

“You’re hopeless…” He slumped forward slightly. “...Alright. I’m just glad you like them.”

Keith smiled at that. _Ah_ , he started to remember the meaning behind the flowers, and if he was right...well. It sent a pleasant warm feeling spreading through his body. They had been getting closer, and yeah he could admit that he liked the company, but as for how he would act on it, he wasn’t quite sure of that yet. Luckily Lance didn’t seem to mind and they settled into the usual banter of conversation. The gift was set off to the side for now, tucked under the safety of one of the hedges so that it wouldn’t dry out in the sun. As they worked, Keith noticed that he really had improved at identification. Lance would call out, “Hey get me that ginger,” and Keith found himself reaching down for the nearby plant and handing it over before he even really had a chance to think about what he was doing. It was a bit odd to think that only a few weeks ago he had been ready to chase Lance off, and now it was hard to imagine not having his presence.

“Guys!”

He looked up to see Pidge and Hunk coming over. Oh, it was that time already? Blue meowed and ran over to paw at the picnic basket dangling from Hunk’s arm.

“Hey.” Lance waved at them, putting away the last of the supplies. Keith went over to help Hunk with the food and to keep it away from Blue.

Pidge sat down, cross-legged on the grass, wearing her trademark smirk. She knew something.

“Alright, what is it?”

“The Galra finally talked.”

The silence was so thick as they waited attentively. Lance spoke first, “Seriously? What did they say?”

She mused over the food then said one word that shook them all, “Haggar.”

Haggar, _the Haggar,_ as in one of the main forces that had been responsible for starting the war in the first place. The Galra had only been her pawns, both in the war and now, same for the Druids. It was much more than Keith had been aware of. After Zarkon had been killed, all news of her had disappeared and many thought she had been defeated as well. What she was doing now? The Galra hadn’t revealed, but she was alive and still active.

It all seemed to confirm what he had been afraid of, that it hadn’t been a coincidence that they had been targeted so many times. Ever since the reveal more attempts occurred. He tried to be careful, taking different routes to the meeting spot every day, but it didn’t seem to help. The Galra managed to find him, often alone, but they wouldn’t fight. They ran off as soon as he tried to attack, and the closest he got was some singed skin before he stopped the pursuit--not wanting to go too far in case it was a trap. Though one time the did manage to spring a net on him. The cords cut into his skin and wings, but he had cut through and freed himself, before tackling his ‘captors’ and trying to pummel them for more answers. It got nowhere, and he was so frustrated that he let them go, limping off to tend their wounds. What did they want? The ‘battles’ (if you could call them that) were so stupidly easy, that they were little more than advanced training exercises. Though he supposed it was useful in keeping Galra away from the borders, but he was annoyed, and glowered when he walked into Hunk’s bakery to sit down with Lance and the others.

“Rough day there buddy?” Hunk slid a piece of cake towards him.

“Hmph.” He started eating, the sweet making him feel mildly better.

“Galra again?”

Keith nodded.

“So uh...is anyone else wondering why Haggar seems so fixated on Keith, and why now?” Pidge asked.

“Must be his good looks. Grump magnet.” Lance smirked, and Keith sent him a brief glare.

“That’s what I would like to know. Maybe it’s revenge?” Pidge hummed, stealing a forkful of the cake. “There has to be more to it than that. There’s no record of her caring about her underlings that much.”

But they were all stumped. They didn’t know how to stop the random attacks, even mom didn’t know what to make of it. They talked about tracking Haggar down. Theoretically it was possible...but they needed a plan.

Unfortunately fate had a different plan in mind.

* * *

 

When the next day came and Keith arrived, he thought he was early again. There was no sign of Lance yet. It happened a lot and so he leaned against a tree to wait, flicking his dagger up and catching it by the hilt to pass the time. The sun creeped higher into the sky and there was still no sign. This wasn’t right… His gut twisted in knots as he stood up. It was probably nothing, but there was such a sense of wrongness. He was so on edge that when a branch rustled above him, he immediately shifted into a defensive position and gathered his magic. Then Blue poked her head through and hopped down from the limb to land neatly on his shoulders.

“Oh, it’s just you.” He breathed out, and let the magic disappear. Darn cat almost got roasted. He reached to stroked her ears, and earned an appreciative head boop. “Where is your owner? It’s not like him to be late and leave you here by yourself.”

She gave a sharp meow in reply and curled herself around his neck, content purrs vibrated through his skin. At least one of them was relaxed. But the small feeling of dread grew as he continued to stroke her. For all his goofing around, Lance had never been late, and Blue was hardly ever far from his side. Something was definitely wrong, and Keith had to find out what. He scowled before marching down the path towards the village.

He didn’t even bother hiding his wings. The townspeople stared and gasped, but he was barely aware of it. There was only one place he wanted to get to, and everything else was irrelevant. He reached the bakery and threw the door open, barely resisting slamming it behind him.

Everything was quiet and normal inside. There wasn’t anyone else present, and even the baker was nowhere to be seen.

“Hunk!” he shouted. Blue bolted at the noise. Her claws dug into his shoulder before she leapt over to the counter. It all happened just as Hunk walked into the room, carrying a full tray of fresh bread that he almost dropped when the cat landed next to him.

“Ah! Keith!” He steadied the tray and set in up top on a high counter out of the cat’s reach. “What is it?”

“Where’s Lance.” He got straight to the point.

“With you? Or he’s supposed to be anyway.” Hunk glanced around, trying to see behind Keith as if he was hiding and they were both messing with him.

“Well, he’s not. He never showed.”

Keith crossed his arms while Hunk started to visibly fret, wringing his hands together. “That’s not like him at all. Oh gosh. I know I saw him leave, you’re sure you had the right location?”

He stared blankly at the stupid question and he spoke slowly, “Hunk...we’ve been meeting there everyday.”

“I know, I just had to rule it out.”

The conversation lapsed for a minute, Hunk continued to wring his hands while Keith gritted his teeth. Had something happen to Lance? Was it his fault? Normally, he wasn’t the type to self blame, whatever happened, happened. But this... This felt he should have done more, could have done more, or told Lance to be more careful. But first, they needed to find him.

“I’m going back. He might be there now. Or there’s a clue. Or...something!” He clenched his fists.

Hunk stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Hey. It’s okay. We’ll find him and make sure he’s okay, and then we’ll probably all laugh about this.”

Keith let out a breath he had been holding. “I’m still going.”

“I’m not stopping you. Lance is my best friend, I’m coming with. Just give me a moment.”

“Fine.” He silently counted, and when he reached a minute and Hunk still wasn’t back, he decided he was going to leave. He was almost out the door when Hunk did return, carrying the stave and what looked like a pouch of Lance’s herbal supplies--probably a spare?

“I’m here. Let’s grab Pidge too. She needs to know.”

Keith bit back a retort, Hunk was right, and she might be able to help. He narrowed his eyes as he looked for the blacksmith’s shop. It wasn’t hard to find, and he went right in. Wings flaring out once he got past the doorway.

Despite it being his first time inside, he didn’t stop to look around. There were the standard tools hanging up on the wall, a large anvil in the center, and there off to the side holding some smaller tools was Pidge. Her jaw practically dropped when she saw him.

“Keith? What the hell!” She slammed her tools down and came stomping over towards him. “You can’t just come in...like this!” she gestured vaguely at him.

“Lance is missing,” he said, like that explained everything, and going by the look of shock that quickly turned into set determination, it did.

She scrambled to grab some things and led the way. “Come on. Let’s find that idiot.”

They returned to the scene. Unsurprisingly, there had been no sudden arrival of Lance. One small part of him had been hoping it was all a big joke. Lance would pop out from behind the tree with a huge smile and say ‘Gotcha!’ Instead, there was silence as Pidge pulled out that small metal box again and scanned the area. While he waited, he rubbed his thumb along his finger. The old habit really didn’t help much but it at least gave him something to focus on. Even Hunk wasn’t much help, sure he tried, but he couldn’t really give any reassurances without Pidge stopping to briefly glare at them for interrupting her and then returned to the task at hand.

She straightened up, grimacing at the device.

Hunk approached her first, cautiously, “What is it?”

“Well. It’s not exactly good,” she admitted, in a rare display of hesitation.

“Out with it.”

She adjusted her glasses, “The energy matches the one we found before, with the Druid.”

Hunk gasped, but it didn’t come as a surprise to Keith. It made sense. After all the attempts, they had finally tired of coming after him and gone for the next target. He should have predicted this. God. _Why didn’t he predict this!?_ Some part of him had to have known it could happen and he ignored it. Things had been too good and that never lasted, not for him. First dad, then Shiro, and now…

“-Keith?” Hunk’s voice broke through his thoughts, and he belatedly realized he had zoned out.

“Yeah?”

“Uh you kind of spaced out there. We said we might be able to track it.”

He straightened up, wings snapping almost fully closed behind him. “Let’s go.”

“What, but it could be a trap, in fact it probably is a trap,” Hunk protested.

“Probably, but we’re going anyway.”

Pidge nodded. “We need information, this is the best way to get it.”

“Oh gosh. This is such a bad idea.”

Keith agreed, but wordlessly started walking after Pidge took the lead.

The journey passed in silence, and Keith focused on marching forward. Whatever they would find, as long as Lance was at their destination, that was all that mattered. It hardly even crossed his mind if Lance was alive, there wasn’t any other option. Yeah, there was a high chance he would have to fight one of those druids to get him back. That thought made him grit his teeth. Screw it. He had thought of some strategies since the last time, but it would be a hard fight. Would there be more than one? Maybe Pidge and Hunk could be a distraction and… _No._ Never. He would never use them as bait. He had already gotten them into more trouble than they deserved, just like Lance. Once this was all over, and everyone was back home safe, he’d decide what to do then, even if…

Again, he wouldn’t let his thoughts go there.

They approached a large stone building, no not large, it only seemed that way as a trick of perspective. It was surrounded by thick trees that gave the impression of being tall, but in reality, they hardly stood taller than Keith. They were healthy, but stunted. The building itself was almost the definition of ramshackle. Crumbling stone that was slowly being claimed by ivy. While the roof--if it could be called that--had obviously been a great fortress in its day; tall and imposing. Now it barely could hold itself together. The huge stone blocks leaned against each other and were stacked in the haphazard way that a child would put together the wooden toy version. Keith wondered if he could send the whole thing crashing down with one good kick. There were no signs of Lance, the druid, or even a single guard.

Pidge grabbed him by the sleeve, forcing him to a stop while they were still under cover.

“Okay, here’s the plan. We’ll--”

“I’ll go check it out,” he cut her off.

“What?” She glared at him. “That’s not a good plan.”

“Yeah, I’m with Pidge on this one.” Hunk raised his hand in agreement. “The whole potential trap thing, remember?”

“I know how to be careful!” Keith snapped back, and they immediately gave him skeptical looks. So maybe they had a point, but he could be be stealthy he just didn’t choose to do so very often. He also knew this was stupid, but every moment they waited was another moment Lance could be in danger. There was no other choice. “I’m still going.”

He slipped out of Pidge’s feeble grip and flexed his wings to take off. He heard their shouts of protest, but then he was above the tree line and the slim cover they provided. He hovered in place and flew towards the building. True to his word, he approached it with a bit of caution. He stayed high above it, glancing downwards at the structure. The cobbled-together look was even more prominent from above, with pieces jutting out at random spots. Really, it was a miracle it hadn’t fallen yet. Still, it seemed safe, no archers, no druid(s). He circled lower, searching for something. The whole place couldn’t be abandoned.

Then he saw it. A flash of blue as he passed by a window. He spun so fast that he almost crashed into the wall. It was more force than he should’ve put on his wings--he’d be paying for that later--but that didn’t matter right now. He righted himself, flapping slowly in place as he approached the opening from the side, gripping onto the edge and using the support to peer inside.

“Keith!?”

Lance was there, staring at him. He was on the far side of the room, locked behind a set of bars that encompassed the whole section. Other than looking a bit roughed up, he seemed alright, thank god. At that moment, Keith forgot all about his promise to be careful and to report back. All that mattered was getting to Lance _right now._ He didn’t even think as he landed on the narrow edges of the window sill, folding his wings back so he could squeeze himself through sideways an inch at a time.

“Keith…!” Lance hissed. Now that the initial shock had worn off, he became focused on vocalizing just how dumb this was. He told the stupid fae just as much too, keeping his voice down to low frantic whispers. “Are you nuts? You need to get out of here, go and come back with help. Are Pidge and Hunk here too?”

“I’m not leaving, and they’re outside,” Keith gritted out as he finished wedging past the final few inches and stepped onto the hard floor.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?”

“Do you want to be left here?” Keith walked over to the bars and inspected them. The cage door was secured with what looked like a simple padlock. He flicked his knife out and jammed it into the keyhole.

“Well it hasn’t been too bad so far. They gave me food and water already, and it’s kind of cushy...” Lance began casually then his voice turned harsh, “Of course I don’t want to be here!”

“Then stay quiet.”

He grumbled at the lock, about ready to blast the whole thing off if it didn’t cooperate. The last tumbler clicked into place when Lance screamed and pointed backwards. Keith moved on instinct, pulling the knife out as he twisted sideways. A blast of dark magic shot past where he had been, slamming into the bars where it fizzled out.

Two Galra stood in the doorway, flanked by two robed figures. They both had on the distinct outfits of the Druid, though one was more ornate in design, a dark purple embroidered with symbols from no language that he recognized.

“Those are the guys that grabbed me!” Lance waved his slightly scorched fingers.

“I figured that...” Keith commented, magic ready for the inevitable attack.

The main robe figure raised their arm towards Keith and intoned, “I want him alive.”

The Galra rushed forward first, and he sent a wall of flame across the room to separate the group. He let the remains gather back into his hands, the magic still trickling along his fingers. That kind of move took more concentration, but it left the Galra wary, shifting their weapons in their hands. Keith attacked before they could gather themselves, running to grab one by their clothing and flung them against the bars. Lance almost gleefully reached through and grabbed them under the armpits to pin them in place and then yanked backwards, slamming their head against the hard metal. Their eyes rolled backwards as they slumped to the ground.

With one remaining, they circled each other for an opening. Keith spotted his chance first, and delivered a solid punch to their gut. He stepped in to knock them out, but before he reached them there was a sucking woosh of air. Glancing over, the fire barrier was being extinguished by the Druids, black magic covered the flames and smothered them. He pulled back what he could, reclaiming a little of his magic, but there was hardly anything left.

Shit. He had planned to only fight one of these things and even then the odds were slim. How could he manage two? They didn’t leave him time to plan, simultaneously disappearing from where they stood. He reacted by leaping into the air and hovered just as they reappeared directly below. He dived to slash at the nearest one and they vanished before he could hit. It turned into a frantic dance of attempts to outmaneuver the other. A swoop up to the ceiling to avoid a blast then he tried to go on the offensive again. Like before, they disappeared no matter how fast he flew, or what kind of aerial maneuvers he tried, they seemed to expect each movement. Lance even helped, calling out positions when one appeared in Keith’s blind spot and he twisted out of the way. It was exhausting. He wasn’t going to last at this rate.

Keith searched around the room, heart thudding in his chest. There! He dived low, ducking behind a table that was one of the sole large furnishings in the room. He backed up against the wall and pushed. The table fell over onto its side as a fresh blast slammed into it; the thin defense held. He crouched and waited, waited till he felt that telltale tingling sensation of dark magic. How his gut churned, and the hairs rose on the back of his neck. Waited till it felt like it was almost on top of him and then struck. He wedged his fingers under the table and stood, wrenching it upwards with him and flipped it over. As planned, the Druids separated to dodge the furniture, and when they did, he sent a blast at one of the retreating forms. Whether he caught them by surprise before they could vanish, or just luck, it hit and they slumped to the floor.

The final Druid watched him, and raised their hands in that gesture he was getting all too familiar with. Before it released, he summoned the dregs of his magic and let loose. The two forces clashed, dark purple swirled around the bright orange of his flames. It emitted such power that he had to brace himself to not get blown away. The Druid’s robes flapped frantically around their arms, but otherwise he couldn’t tell if they were even struggling. Just a little more… He increased his concentration, and the flames overtook the blackness. They singed the edges of the sleeves, the purple force dwindled down to a small orb. Any moment now and they would be completely overwhelmed. An odd tug made him falter slightly. What was that? He gathered himself, not backing off from the attack. He couldn’t place the sensation, there was no time to get distracted now, not when he was so close. The fire flickered but stayed steady until another tug forcefully pulled at his insides. A dawning dread of realization stuck; it was taking his magic. _How—_

Keith screamed when it latched on, and he tried to cut the flow, to stop his magic like he had done hundreds of times before, but it didn’t stop. Each second dragged on in a silent tug-of-war to hold onto his own magic. He could see it now too, his flames were sucked into the Druid’s hands and continued to pull for more. It steadily sapped at his strength and pressed down on him. He didn’t realize his legs gave out till he suddenly felt the cold, hard floor underneath him. Still, he had to do something. It was an effort to move his arm, but he gripped his knife and chucked it with all the remaining strength he had. The weapon flew no more than a foot and clattered uselessly at the Druid’s feet.

As his consciousness started to slip, just on the verge of blacking out, the weight lifted. Sounds and colors started to filter back in, chaotic yelling filled his ears. He forced his head back to see the Druid glaring off to the side, hood down, and long white hair streamed down their face. Even in his half-aware state he could see the distinctive pointed ears of an elf. _What? Why?_ It couldn’t be. Next he registered why they--she--was shouting, half the wall had been blown out, and the Galra he had just fought stood between him and the Druid. Were they...protecting him?

“Get him out of here!” the Galra shouted, and they shot a bright, green, blast at the Druid as they rushed in.

Warm hands wrapped themselves around his shoulders, lightly pressing in to steady him.

“Keith? You with me?”

He blinked up into a swirling mess of blue and tan that slowly resolved into Lance’s face. “Oh, hey.” Despite everything, he smiled in relief.

“Oh god, you look like shit. Are you gonna pass out on me?”

A chuckle escaped Keith’s mouth. That was such a Lance thing to ask. But in reality, the familiar heaviness of magic depletion started to settle in his body. At least that suffocating drain was gone. There was no point trying to hide how exhausted he was. “Yeah, probably…” he admitted with a wince.

“Some rescuer you are,” Lance replied.

“S’rry,” Keith hummed and drifted off.

* * *

 

Lance was left staring down at an armful of unconscious Fae in disbelief, he was out cold.

“Lance! We gotta go!” Hunk yelled at him, half crouched nearby.

“I kind of need some help here!” He shook Keith’s shoulders in a half-hearted attempt to wake him, the movement only tousled the already messy hair even more. There was no way he was gonna be able to lift the dead weight.

So much chaos had happened in the last few minutes, his heart still hammered away in his chest, trying to catch up. God he had been terrified. He had been so helpless, only able to watch as Keith got sucked dry. Not that he hadn’t tried everything he possibly could have; he rattled the cell bars, he yelled, he had thrown the empty metal bowl from his meal. The Druid hadn’t spared him a single glance. In the last of his frustrations, he did something that he thought he would never do; he begged. Oh god how he had pleaded. Shouting ‘Stop! You’ll kill him! Come on, I’ll do anything!’ _That_ got a response. The Druid craned their head, purposefully flashing a chilling grin, and resumed the magic drain. It sent a cold shock through his bones. He didn’t want this, he didn’t want to be here, he just wanted to go home. But he couldn’t look away. There was that small stupid hope that Keith would be--had to be--okay as long as he watched. Nothing bad would happen. Then Keith dropped, completely limp, and he felt himself slump with him. The tight grip on the bars kept him from completely losing it right then. Still, he didn’t stop begging. ‘ _Stop, please stop, please…’_

And, miraculously, it did stop. A Galra moved in front of the Druid and they stopped the flow of magic. Lance squinted at Keith, trying to make out if he was moving, it looked like he was still breathing, but the shadows of the room played tricks on his eyes and made it hard to tell.

“--him at this rate.”

He drifted back to reality to see the Druid glare at the Galra. “Are you defying me?”

“No. I’m saying there’s a certain measure of caution.”

“This is the first opportunity I’ve had in years. I’m not going to waste such a valuable source.”

 _What the quiznak?_ They chatted some more but Lance blocked it out. A thrill rose through him, they were talking about Keith and he was alive. He silently thanked every god and goddess he could think of. Keith was alive, he was okay, he was really okay. That joy was short-lived as the Galra reached for Keith. What were they going to do to him now? Hadn’t he been put through enough? His blood boiled as his brain thought of worse and worse possibilities. Keith getting locked up, hurt.

“Don’t touch him!” he yelled and banged on the cage door.

That’s when it all went to hell.

The jolt knocked the padlock off and it hit the floor with a loud crash. Lance watched in mute fascination as the cell swung open and two pairs of eyes swiveled towards him. Oh shucks. Keith’s lock picking must have worked, and the door had been unlocked this whole time without anyone realizing it. Welp he definitely had their attention now. Quiznak.

He thought he was a goner. The Galra prepared a magic attack and released it. Two things happened at the same time. Pidge and Hunk arrived, wielding their weapons, and instead of him, the Galra sent their attack towards the Druid. They dodged it, but it left a huge hole in the wall.

“Get him out of here!” the Galra shouted at him.

_What was going on!?_

“Traitor!” The Druid turned their full attention to the Galra.

Lance used the opportunity to run over to Keith. Keith who was safe, but passed out almost as soon as he reached him. He dragged him off to the side, praying that he wouldn’t be noticed. Pidge reached him, dodging magic blasts and together they helped to push Keith upright and let him flop onto Hunk’s back piggy-back style. They struggled with the dead weight, and Lance earned a faceful of wing that he pushed away, but they got him up. Hunk gripped on securely and they bolted away from the battle. Hopefully they’d finish each other off.

As they ran, Lance watched Keith bob around like a ragdoll, the only reason he hadn’t fallen off yet was thanks to Hunk’s death grip. It was just wrong. He looked so lifeless. Even the other time he passed out hadn’t been this bad, and he had been wounded then. No matter what they had to get him back to the village and treat him. Lance had spent hours digging up whatever information he could find on Fae healing concoctions. What he found...it didn’t amount to much, but at least it was better than nothing. They marched right into the village, and he didn’t care if the guards themselves demanded that they hand Keith over, he’d take them out himself if he had to. Luckily, they didn’t encounter any trouble as they entered Lance’s house. Hunk carried Keith over to one of the cots Lance normally reserved for patients, and carefully laid him down.

“Thanks. Keep an eye on him.” Lance went to his supply cabinets and started mixing the ingredients for a potion that would potentially help. But by the time he finished, Keith still hadn’t woken up.

He glanced down, concentrating as he tried to figure out what to do. “He needs to drink this.”

“Uh, Keith? Buddy? Hey.” Hunk lightly shook him by the shoulders. No response.

“I can get a funnel from the shop. We’ll pour it down his throat,” Pidge offered.

“They’re all greasy! No.”

She scrunched her face up. “I’d clean it first.”

“Hear that, Keithy? If you don’t wake up right this instant, you’re gonna get an only partly-greasy potion in your gut.” He cracked a smile.

Yeah, it was dumb, but he had been slightly hopeful the threat would work and Keith would make one of his usual smartass comebacks. The only response was more silence, and Lance’s smile faltered. “Come on, Keith. You have to wake up.”

That sense of hopelessness started to claw at him again. What could he do? If this was a cheesy romance book, all he’d have to do was be all sappy and confess his undying love. Then the unconscious heroine’s eyes would flutter open, and they would look at each other and kiss, and--Wait...would he have to do that, to Keith? A rush of heat hit his cheeks at the thought.

“Hey! I think he’s coming to.”

Lance whipped his head around as a groan filled the room. Keith’s eyes were still closed, but there was a grimace on his face.

“You awake there Keithy? Come on Mr. Grumpy Fae, or should I call you TinkerBell? I can even clap my hands together. Wakey wakey.” He hovered nearby.

There was another groan, smaller this time, and one eyelid cracked open, a slit of indigo peeking through. It looked so dull, only a bit of that usual spark remaining, but the gaze was steady. “You’re so loud...and annoying.”

Lance chuckled, knowing he didn’t mean it, yep there was his Keith. Wait not his, his. That would be odd, he wasn’t possessive, this had to be leftover from the whole rescue, his brain still running on adrenaline fumes and making him think weird things. He shoved the bowl towards Keith. “That’s me, now time for your medicine.”

It took the help of Hunk and Pidge to get Keith sitting upright, but he downed the whole bowl without complaints. While they all waited for it to take effect, Lance got to fill the others in on how he had been captured. It was an embarrassingly short tale. He had come to the usual meeting spot and found the Druid waiting for him. A short fight entailed before his capture--he might have embellished the story a bit, telling how he managed to outwit the Druid and fend them off with nothing more than his slingshot and a few acorns. In reality ‘the battle’ had consisted of a grand total of one magic blast and he went down. He even suspected the Druid had taken it easy on him.

“So that Galra, elf? Whatever they were decided to help us. I don’t get it. Plus, what do we do about the scary lady?”

Keith stretched his wings out, they looked slightly crumpled, from either the magic drain or just from being laid on. But they started to slowly resume their original shape, filling in the wrinkled parts and smoothing out. “We take her down.”

“Are you crazy!?” Pidge blurted out before Lance could say anything, which yeah what was Keith thinking. “She just kicked your butt.”

“I’m not going to let her do what she wants.”

Oh, well he had a point, “Woah okay hold your horses. I’m all for defeating the bad guy, but do we have a plan because I sure as heck don’t.”

Keith got a constipated look on his face and stayed silent.

“See? So till we figure some--”

“I have a plan.”

Lance tilted his head, letting out a long ‘huuuuuh’. What the heck, he had just been ready to rush in all Gung-ho style, and now there was a plan? Well it was worth listening anyway. Hunk looked more skeptical, “Uh, no offense, Keith but isn’t that basically what you said before going to rescue Lance? And well...we saw how that worked out.”

“Would you just listen?” His wings flared out and Lance stepped forward to pat him on the shoulder.

“Hey we are listening. So what’s the plan?” He shot Keith a smile and they all listened in as the idea took shape.

Keith’s plan was actually pretty smart, or it would end up backfiring terribly. But Lance was trying to be optimistic. It had to work otherwise they would all be screwed. It also nagged at him how Keith was all raring to go, there was no way he had recovered enough already. He should still be resting in bed, but no. Instead he was marching forward, jaw set in determination. Lance would have to give him a talking to, maybe they could tie him up once this whole plan thing was put into action. Seeing Keith defenseless was one of the worst things he had ever experienced. No way did he want a repeat. That was Lance’s main hope as they reached a thick forested area.

It wasn’t a section that he recognized. Sure he knew the general location, it was a bit past their usual meeting place. But otherwise he didn’t see how this would be helpful. Then Keith walked ahead of them and shimmered out of sight. _What?_

All of them stopped, staring at the space where he just had been. Lance stepped forward to take a better look and screamed when Keith’s disembodied head appeared.

“Are you guys coming?” He furrowed his brows at them like this was perfectly normal. This guy was going to seriously give him a heart attack.

Pidge stepped to poke her arm through the space near Keith and let out a ‘Woaaah’ when it disappeared up to her elbow.

“That’s super freaky…” Hunk blinked.

“Come on.” Keith grabbed Lance by the hand and pulled him through.

The sensation was like stepping through an electrically charged curtain. It sent a tingling sensation all through his body, and made his hair stand on end. Looking over, he saw Pidge and Hunk come through and their hair was just as poofed up as his had to be. But he didn’t have time to laugh or wonder how Keith’s hair was unaffected, because they were no longer in the forest.

Well, there were still some trees around them, but houses--houses were everywhere. Small huts were scattered across the ground and others wove up into the trees, nestled between branches. Other Fae of various wing sizes and colors were flitted around or walked along the path--mostly those who were too old or too young to fly. Their group was mostly ignored, save for a group of children that came running up to Keith, begging him to play with them. To Lance’s surprise, Keith smiled at them and stated he was busy. Huh, so he was popular. It was only then that the kids noticed Lance and the others, making the same request and peppered them with questions. They were adorable! He was almost ready to say yes, but Keith kept moving.

They kept walking till they reached one of the tallest trees in the area, a long winding staircase circled around it, traveling up in so many loops until Lance lost count. Did they have to climb all those?

“Meet you up top.” Keith flicked his wings and then he was up in the air, heading to wherever the stairs led to.

“Keith!” Lance shouted. Oh, now this really was cheating.

Pidge and Hunk looked up and came to a quick, unanimous decision. “We’re staying down here.”

Technically Lance could do that too. Stay on the ground till Keith finished whatever he was doing, and maybe he could pass the time playing with those cute, little Faelings. But his curiosity got the better of him. Who was Keith visiting up there? They had to be important, and he found himself ascending the stairs. The climb wasn’t as bad as the climb up the cliff had been, but it was still exhausting work.  

Keith waited for him at the top, arms crossed and an amused smirk on his face. God, he was so smug, like he hadn’t just needed saving, Lance marched right on by and waltzed through the door at the top.

Inside were dozens of unrecognizable maps and diagrams that covered the walls. Before he got a good look, something blurred in front of him and a knife was at his throat. He gazed down the sharp edge, trying not to budge, a nervous gulp caught in his throat.

“Who are you?” The blade pressed in further, nicking his skin.

His attention shifted to the speaker and experienced a wave of confusion. The attacker was a woman with vaguely familiar sharp features and piercing gray eyes. _Scary hot_ , his brain supplied, which was...what the quiznak.

“Mom, it’s okay. He’s a friend.”

Immediately the woman backed off, though warily. Lance rubbed at his throat and checked to make sure there wasn’t any blood. Had Keith called her mom? Oh god, that explained so much.

He recovered and shot a hopefully winning smile at her. “Hey. I’m Lance.”

“A human?” she replied, scrunching her face the same way Keith did sometimes.

“I’ll get to that. There’s no time.” Keith’s wings flared out and Lance almost thought he looked nervous, but then he launched into explanation mode and that was forgotten.

Keith’s mom stayed eerily calm though the discussion. A crease in her forehead slowly deepened with each new detail, the only movement besides the slow beat of her wings. Lance offered what he could, but he felt out of place. Who would’ve thought that Keith would be the talkative one, instead of him? Even when it got to the rescue, Krolia (Keith’s mom, he learned her name at least) cut in with an explanation.

“I thought all of our agents had been lost already. That idiot...why didn’t he report to us?”

“Maybe he couldn’t.” Keith shrugged. “We know now, we need to attack.”

Krolia nodded, “I agree. We’ll head out as soon as possible.”

“Wait, a moment.” Lance stepped forward. “You’re going to fight, that soon?”

She looked him over. “That’s what I just said. Do your short ears make it hard to hear me?”

Insult to his ears aside, which were cute and adorable thank you very much, he wasn’t going to let them miss the bigger problem. “But Keith hasn’t recovered yet!”

“I’m fine.” Keith frowned at him, which too bad, he was the idiot’s self appointed healer and going to fight was a seriously dumb idea.

“He will get a chance to rest and he won’t be alone, I’ll gather up anyone able to help.”

Oh…nope, if it came to that, there was only one option left. ”Well I’m going with!”

They both paused, the similarity even more striking as two pairs of eyebrows furrowed at him. If he didn’t know better, he would seriously say they were twins.

“Lance, no.” Keith finally broke the silence.

“Why not? I ended up saving you the last time, or partly responsible. I’ll do it again. Plus you need my sharpshooting skills.”

“That’s not--” Keith started, then restarted., “You’ll get hurt!”

“Oh so it’s okay for you to run off and get hurt!?”

“No, this is _our_ fight. You don’t need to be involved.”

That...stung a little. Like they didn’t want him? He couldn’t take just sitting back and fretting if they were all going to be okay. That wasn’t his style.

“We could use all the help we can get.” Krolia smiled. “Thank you, Lance. It’s no wonder you and Keith get along. You’re both stubborn.”

* * *

They all arrived the following day. Lance, Pidge, and even Hunk, and met outside the forested area. There was an assembled group of Fae, dozens of wings clustered the area. Probably around 10 or 20 individuals, which was a bit fewer than he expected. Out of all of them, he zeroed in on that specific pair of black wings that belonged to Keith.

They had time for a quick greeting and then Krolia spoke. The sounds of idle chatter among the crowd had been deafening, so even trying to talk to Keith had been almost impossible over the noise. But as soon as her first word rang out, the sounds dwindled to muttered comments, then whispers, then silence. Lance respected the way she commanded attention so easily. 

“The plan is simple. From the reports, we outnumber the Druid, she may have a few forces so be prepared. Try to keep magic attacks to a minimum. Let’s go.”

She spread her wings and all the Fae matched the gesture before taking to the air, filling the sky in a small colorful clump. Lance felt a split second of dread that this was one part he hadn’t thought of, that they could be so easily be left behind. That worry turned out to be pointless as the next moment he felt hands securely grip him and lifted him off the ground.

“Come on, maybe I won’t drop you this time,” Keith teased.

“Wow you’re just so charming. Swept me off my feet, literally.” Lance grinned when he heard a warm amused huff in response.

“Don’t push it.”

Someone screamed and looking over, he saw that Pidge and Hunk were getting similar rides, though Hunk was split between two Fae and the poor guy looked like he might pass out before they even got anywhere near the battle.

 _Hang in there buddy._ He sent good thoughts his way as they flew.

Lance had some time to appreciate the sights, and teased Keith more about crashing, and cracked some jokes. He thought for sure someone would tell him to shut up, but no one did--maybe they all appreciated the distraction, it helped him at least. It was when the fortress came into sight that they all quieted.

It no longer looked like it was going to crumble into dust. Instead, it stood tall and intimidating, solid towers of black stone gleamed in the sun; the reflected glare close to blinding them. The sight of it sent a wave of nerves through him. _How did this happen?_ Even the best architects in the world couldn’t have salvaged it, and not so quickly. Also unlike before, it was guarded.

“Split up and take them down. If you find the Druid, signal for help.” Krolia swooped down, a group of five others split off to follow her, and headed for a tower.

Lance’s stomach gave a little flip as Keith descended, probably planning to ditch him on the ground and take off. “Oh no you don’t! Up, up! I can pick off some of those guys right there, easy peasy.”

“Don’t order me around,” Keith grumbled but they regained altitude.

Sure enough on another tower three archers intermittently fired rounds at the incoming Fae. He waited till Keith got him close enough, readied his sling, and _wssh!_ One archer dropped out of sight. The other two turned their aim towards him and _wssh!_ He got off another round before they could fire. An arrow from the other headed his way, and Keith swerved out of its path. _Wssh!_ Lance sent a stone at the final archer and they slumped alongside the others.

“Alright! Nice job on the flying too.” He smiled.

“Nice shooting,” Keith replied and then took them down for a landing. Lance didn’t complain this time.

Pidge, Hunk, and a few others waited on the ground. One of the unfamiliar Fae--he forgot her name, but she had nice blue wings--approached.

“We’re going to check inside now, ok? The rest look like they have it covered.”

They all filed through the entryway, forced to walk one by one. Lance knew he looked less nervous than he felt. No one would know if they ran into trouble, and this seemed like a prime spot to find the Druid. Mostly he was worried that Keith wouldn’t be deterred by that. Several times he caught himself glancing ahead at Keith’s hand, tempted to grab it. Just to keep him from doing anything dumb, of course. Plus he still owed that Druid payback from before. If anyone was gonna take her down it was gonna be him.

The dim hallway opened into the familiar space of they had escaped from. He could see light down another path where the wall must still be busted. Odd with all the other renovations that hadn’t been fixed. Everyone held their tense silence while the blue Fae gestured for them to wait and she fluttered upwards to scout. It might’ve been his imagination but he thought Keith moved in closer. While Pidge and Hunk stood with their sticks raised in a protective stance.

“I don’t see anything,” she called down, and Lance relaxed for a whole moment. Then there was a flash of light followed shortly by a scream.

Keith flew past and caught the limp form of the girl as she fell. He set her down and then he zipped back upwards. It all happened so fast that Lance had time to blink and then he was racing up the stairs after him. Pidge’s small footsteps racing right behind him, for whatever reason she had decided to follow him.

“I got her!” Hunk called after them and stayed to treat the girl. Well technically Lance should be doing that, but he was just as impulsive as Keith at times and couldn’t seem to stop himself. Oh well, someone had to make sure he didn’t die.

Flashes of color exploded around them, momentarily chasing away the shadows from the walls. The distinct bursts of blue, purple, and more, but no red. As he reached the top he saw Keith flitting about in tight circles to dodge the attacks. Weaving in and striking the Druid with his knife, and of course she vanished before he hit.

Lance loaded his sling, nodding at Pidge. She nodded back, face set in determination as she approached. He knew she had to be terrified, though she would never admit to it. He licked his lips as he spun his weapon, they had to get this just right.

It came when the Druid did that disappearing trick again, Keith almost flying right into the wall and did a half backflip, half kick off the surface to avoid crashing into it. The Druid appeared behind him, magic gathering around her hands.

“Hey!” Pidge called and ran in to try and whack the Druid.

That was not the plan! She was just supposed to distract her. The Druid turned, ready to blast Pidge now, and Lance rushed to fling the projectile. He botched it. The stone struck the Druid’s arm, and it flopped to their side. Magic still swirled around her other hand and Lance froze at the worst possible moment when it fired at him.

“What the hell are you doing!”

He was swept to the ground, Keith’s hands digging into him as the blast soared over their heads. He felt the crackling energy of it as it passed, and sent a silent thank you to Keith.

“Pidge!”

“Yeah! I know!”

He pushed Keith off, and got up, bringing him with. He caught a glimpse of a silvery flash that arched through the air and landed with a _plink_ at the Druid’s feet, where it started to emit a torrent of high pitched beeps.

The Druid, for her part, looked confused; head tilted down to look at it and asked. “What is this?”

“It’s a bomb, it’ll blow you sky high! Come on guys.” Pidge ran for the stairs.

“That’s no--” Keith started to say and Lance quickly clasped a hand over his mouth.

“ _You idiot. Go!”_ Lance hissed between clenched teeth.

With a small nudge, Keith got the hint and sprang forward, driving his knife towards the Druid. She dropped Pidge’s magic detection device and vanished, but this time Lance was ready. He whipped another stone, it struck her head, she was dazed but not down. She came directly for him again, magic flaring to surround her whole body. Then she crumbled, red flames now surrounded her body as Keith pulled his knife out of her.

She fell, and did not get up again. It was over.

* * *

He didn’t remember half of what happened after the Druid fell. It was such a confusing rush to realize she was actually dead and that the whole mess was over. He remembered bits and pieces of a brief celebration and Keith getting scolded by Krolia for not immediately getting help. Oh and the blue Fae lady turned out to be okay, she was still recovering but there were no permanent injuries. He also recalled officially getting introduced to Shiro and he wasn’t ashamed to admit he had a few moments of fanboying--tossing comments and questions at the confused man. But by now, everything had calmed down and he had taken some time to himself to sort out some things.

Or rather, things about a certain someone.

Keith wasn’t hard to find when you knew where to look for him, and Lance easily tracked him down to where he was perched on a large boulder.

“Hey! Keith, got a moment?”

He saw the way his wings tensed up then relaxed. “Uh yeah.”

It was almost funny that Keith sounded nervous, but he scooted over to let Lance climb up to sit next to him. Though he seemed set on avoiding looking at him. 

“Lance...there’s something I need to tell you,” Keith stated.

 _Oh Quiznak._ Was this what he thought it was? He had approached with the thought in mind, but now...did Keith feel the same? “Oh great timing, me too. Uh...but you go first.” Lance smiled, palms starting to sweat. He was hopeful and yet so nervous. He wanted to tell Keith how he felt, he really did. He was so used to making half-hearted confessions because they were safe, no one returned his feelings and no one got hurt. But with Keith...it was different. He didn’t want the normal, so sue him if he decided to be a bit of a coward and not make the first step.

Keith took a breath and spoke. “I’m leaving.”

“Yeah, same I… Wait what?” Lance stumbled, jaw dropping. He had to have heard that wrong.

“All this.” Keith’s fists clenched at his sides. “It’s better if I leave. If there’s more Druids, or Galra. I don’t know what else could happen.”

Realization clicked and Lance said the first thing that came to mind. “You’re an idiot.”

Keith faltered, nose scrunching in distaste. “I’m not an idiot.”

“Yes you are. If this is like what we talked about before the fight?” Keith stayed silent and that was all the confirmation he needed. “God it is. Look, I don’t want you to go. Got it? Do you really want to never see Pidge, or Hunk, or...me again?”

“No. But--”

“Good! Then that settles it. You’re stuck with me.”

“You aren’t leaving me a choice are you?”

“Nope!” He smiled as he saw Keith trying to hold back a grin too. Really if this stupid Fae thought he was that easy to get rid of, he still had a lot to learn. “Besides, we make a pretty good team.”

“Yeah… We do.” Keith smiled fondly and Lance thought that it was a sign that everything would work out just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> It's done! I'm not too satisfied with the ending. So if I ever rewrite this, that'd be something I'd change first.  
> For those that are curious. Pink Asters mean love and patience (going by google), which I thought were a good choice for Keith and Lance.  
> Of course this fic can't go without mentioning the wonderful Vy(ladvy) who did these two wonderful pieces of art:  
> Header: [Image](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SodF3CupMs76aT9-G-Uoyn-QZiw8-KI3/view)  
> Scene: [Lance and Keith on the cliff](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rO1py4t4auqHH0I97xM-7TTFR5L6sazA/view)  
> [Ladvy's Tumblr](https://ladvy.tumblr.com/)


End file.
